Current Microscopy Strategies to Image Fungal Vesicles: From the Intracellular Trafficking and Secretion to the Inner Structure of Isolated Vesicles

Abstract

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are nano-sized structures that play important roles in a variety of biological processes among members of the Eukaryota domain. They have been studied since the 1940s and a broader use of different microscopy techniques to image either isolated vesicles or vesicles within the intracellular milieu (trafficking) has been limited by their nanometric size, usually below the resolution limit of most standard light microscopes. The development of genetically encoded fluorescent proteins and fluorescent probes able to switch between "on" and "off" states, as well the improvement in computer-assisted microscopy, photon detector devices, illumination designs, and imaging strategies in the late Twentieth century, boosted the use of light microscopes to provide structural and functional information at the sub-diffraction resolution, taking advantage of a nondestructive analytical probe such light, and opening new possibilities in the study of life at the nanoscale. As well, traditional and novel electron microscopy techniques have been widely used in the characterization of subcellular compartments, either isolated or in situ, providing a comprehensive understanding of their functional role in many cellular processes. Here, we present basic aspects of some of these techniques that have already been applied and their potential application to the study of fungal vesicles.