Enhanced light microscopy visualization of virus particles from Zika virus to filamentous ebolaviruses
Date
2017-06-26
Authors
Daaboul, George G.
Freedman, David S.
Scherr, Steven M.
Carter, Erik
Rosca, Alexandru
Bernstein, David
Mire, Chad E.
Agans, Krystle N.
Hoenen, Thomas
Geisbert, Thomas W.
Version
Published version
OA Version
Citation
George G Daaboul, David S Freedman, Steven M Scherr, Erik Carter, Alexandru Rosca, David Bernstein, Chad E Mire, Krystle N Agans, Thomas Hoenen, Thomas W Geisbert, M Selim Unlu, John H Connor. 2017. "Enhanced light microscopy visualization of virus particles from Zika virus to filamentous ebolaviruses." PLOS ONE, Volume 12, Issue 6, 15 pp. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0179728
Abstract
Light microscopy is a powerful tool in the detection and analysis of parasites, fungi, and prokaryotes, but has been challenging to use for the detection of individual virus particles. Unlabeled virus particles are too small to be visualized using standard visible light microscopy. Characterization of virus particles is typically performed using higher resolution approaches such as electron microscopy or atomic force microscopy. These approaches require purification of virions away from their normal millieu, requiring significant levels of expertise, and can only enumerate small numbers of particles per field of view. Here, we utilize a visible light imaging approach called Single Particle Interferometric Reflectance Imaging Sensor (SP-IRIS) that allows automated counting and sizing of thousands of individual virions. Virions are captured directly from complex solutions onto a silicon chip and then detected using a reflectance interference imaging modality. We show that the use of different imaging wavelengths allows the visualization of a multitude of virus particles. Using Violet/UV illumination, the SP-IRIS technique is able to detect individual flavivirus particles (~40 nm), while green light illumination is capable of identifying and discriminating between vesicular stomatitis virus and vaccinia virus (~360 nm). Strikingly, the technology allows the clear identification of filamentous infectious ebolavirus particles and virus-like particles. The ability to differentiate and quantify unlabeled virus particles extends the usefulness of traditional light microscopy and can be embodied in a straightforward benchtop approach allowing widespread applications ranging from rapid detection in biological fluids to analysis of virus-like particles for vaccine development and production.
Description
License
© 2017 Daaboul et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.