3D super-resolution microscopy of bacterial division machinery

Super-resolution microscopy is a promising tool for the field of microbiology, as bacteria sizes are comparable to the resolution limit of light microscopy. Bacterial division machinery and FtsZ protein in particular attract much attention of scientists who use different super-resolution microscopy techniques, but most of the available data on FtsZ structures was obtained using two-dimensional (2D) super-resolution microscopy. Using 3D single-molecule localization microscopy (SMLM, namely dSTORM) to visualize FtsZ, we demonstrate that this approach allows more accurate interpretation of super-resolution images and provides new opportunities for the study of complex structures like bacterial divisome.