Light/fluorescence microscopy of cells & tissues, and electron/cryo-EM imaging of macromolecular structures — a metadata catalog with a durable link back to the source archive, not a hosted image gallery. These are primary research datasets (often multi-GB to multi-TB), so this platform never downloads or stores the underlying imaging data itself. Datasets already in either source archive are ingested via accession paste/CSV at /mirroring by a Continental Admin (no automated harvesting — neither source archive supports geography-filterable search); a dataset not yet in either archive can instead be submitted directly below by any node operator, for Continental Admin review. Either way, whoever submits an accession or a self-submitted dataset is the one asserting African origin — this platform does not verify it.
Counterion-enhanced brightness of fluorous-soluble heptamethine cyanine dyes for near- and shortwave infrared fluorescence imaging
BioImage Archive:S-BIAD2526 · (University of California, Los Angeles) · Elgonia sp. ZL-2020
Fluorescence imaging across the near-infrared (NIR, 700–1000 nm) and shortwave infrared (SWIR, 1000–2000 nm) regions offers significant advantages for biomedical applications, yet photophysical enhancements achieved with NIR and SWIR chromophores observed in solution often fail to translate to complex biological environments. Fluorous-soluble fluorophores, fluorofluorophores, face additional challenges, exhibiting poor brightness and photostability when dissolved in perfluorocarbons (PFCs) due to unfavorable interactions with the fluorous phase. Here, we report counterion exchange as a strategy to enhance the photophysical properties of two heptamethine cyanine fluorofluorophore for NIR and SWIR imaging. Exchanging the small chloride counterion with a large, fluorinated aryl borate counterions significantly improved the brightness (10-fold) and photostability (57-fold) in PFCs. These enhancements were successfully translated across multiple biological systems from macrophage cells to NIR imaging zebrafish retinal tissue and finally to SWIR imaging in mice. These results demonstrate that strategic counterion modification provides a straightforward approach to optimize fluorofluorophores, with solution-phase improvements that translate to in vivo NIR and SWIR imaging.
This dataset includes microscopy and sequence data related to the study and used in the figures. It includes light and electron microscopy images. The sample preparation, image acquisition and analysis protocols are described in the methods.
The Darwin Tree of Life project has the goal to sequence the genomes of 70,000 species of eukaryotic organisms in Britain and Ireland. This is a collection of photographs of the samples included in the study, provided by the National History Museum (NHM).
The Darwin Tree of Life project has the goal to sequence the genomes of 70,000 species of eukaryotic organisms in Britain and Ireland. This is a collection of photographs of the samples included in the study, provided by the National History Museum (NHM).
Planar arrangement of bacteriochlorophyll c aggregates in chlorosomes of Chloroflexus aurantiacus
BioImage Archive:S-BIAD2791 · (Biology Centre CAS) · Phenacogrammus aurantiacus
Chlorosomes are main light-harvesting complexes of green photosynthetic bacteria. Pigments are organized in self-assembling aggregates within chlorosomes rather than being coordinated by proteins as seen for other photosynthetic complexes. Chlorosomes isolated from Chloroflexus aurantiacus were subjected to cryo-electron tomography which revealed the long-range organization of bacteriochlorophyll c within the chlorosome interior. The resulting electrostatic scattering potential map is well described by a planar lamellar model. Molecular dynamics simulations substantiated an important role of van der Waals interactions in the aggregate formation. Van der Waals interactions were shown to be involved also in development of curved geometries that are readily formed in single layers due to lateral interactions between esterifying alcohols. In contrast, the planar arrangement is favoured due to interactions with carotenoids which are abundant in chlorosomes from Chloroflexus aurantiacus. This provides a plausible mechanistic explanation for the formation of both planar and curved lamellar arrangements which were observed in chlorosomes from different species.
