Plate Nº 85 · recorded November 11, 2026
Biology & EvolutionReported finding
Bacterial poles imaged at molecular resolution for the first time
A UCL-led team used atomic force microscopy to image live bacterial ends, finding shape differences among three species and new clues about cell division.
By Elena Vasquez4 min read718 words
In brief
- 2026: A UCL-led team reported the first molecular-resolution images of rod-shaped bacterial poles, using living cells.
- 20 and 50 minutes: Cells lay horizontally after 20 minutes, while many later stood upright after about 50 minutes.
- Three species: E. coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumannii were compared at molecular resolution.
- Rapidly dividing E. coli had fold-like pole defects, while less active cells had smoother ends.
- The study appeared in Nature Communications in 2026 with DOI 10.1038/s41467-026-78975-y.
By Elena Vasquez
For the first time, researchers have imaged the ends of rod-shaped bacteria at molecular resolution while keeping the cells alive, a UCL-led study reported in Nature Communications in 2026. The advance gives scientists their first direct look at bacterial poles, regions tied to cell division and possible antibiotic targets.
What did the bacterial poles reveal?
Rod-shaped bacteria divide at their poles, the two ends of the cell. In Escherichia coli, or E. coli, researchers saw fold-like defects at the poles of more active bacteria, those dividing rapidly. Less active bacteria had more smoothly rounded ends.
That difference hints that a pole may not fully remodel after division. The images do not directly show the remodeling process, so the interpretation remains provisional.
Senior author Professor Bart Hoogenboom, of the London Centre for Nanotechnology at UCL and UCL Physics and Astronomy, said: “The poles are where cells divide and so contain critical information about this process. They may also be a particular target for antibiotics, with some bacteria-killing treatments preferring to attack this part of the cell.”
Lead author Dr Anna Scheeder, based at the London Centre for Nanotechnology at UCL, said: “Our immobilization method opens up exciting new possibilities. We can now study the armor of bacteria across different species more reliably and clearly observe nanoscale differences that were previously difficult to assess.”
Bacterial ends changed with cellular activity.
How did researchers image live bacteria?
Researchers coated a glass surface with a chemical that bound to proteins on the bacterial surface. The coating kept cells from wriggling away and anchored them in place without affecting their viability, meaning they remained alive.
It also left their ability to grow and reproduce intact, the researchers said, allowing a wider range of live bacteria to be imaged than before.
After 20 minutes, cells had become immobilized horizontally. When the team left them longer, for about 50 minutes, many unexpectedly stood straight up from the glass instead of lying on their sides. Those upright positions exposed the upward-facing poles to the imaging probe.
The team used atomic force microscopy, a method that scans a surface with a tiny probe to map its shape. Here, the probe was only a few nanometers wide, or a few billionths of a metre. It gently tapped across each cell like a finger reading Braille, feeling the surface to produce an image at much higher resolution than light microscopy can achieve.
That detail allowed the researchers to distinguish folds, rounded ends and tiny surface pores. Anchoring cells solved the imaging problem.
Could surface differences affect antibiotics?
The UCL team, joined by researchers from the University of Oxford, compared three species known for evading common antibiotics and causing difficult-to-treat infections:
- Escherichia coli (E. coli)
- Pseudomonas aeruginosa
- Acinetobacter baumannii
E. coli carried a network of tiny holes, or pores, across its surface. The other two species lacked that network, and no one had previously imaged them at this resolution. Their contrasting surfaces suggest they may respond differently to antibiotics and may rely on different built-in resistance mechanisms.
That structural difference does not establish how a particular drug would work against either species. It gives researchers a sharper starting point for asking why some treatments succeed while others fail.
Hoogenboom described the work as fundamental science intended to find new leads against drug-resistant bacteria. The study aims to lay the foundations for new approaches targeting those strains; its immediate goal is a better map of bacterial surfaces, not a ready antibiotic.
Surface differences may shape antibiotic responses.
What remains unresolved?
The study provides nanometer-scale images of living bacteria in multiple orientations and across three species. The fold-like poles of rapidly dividing cells may expose an unfinished remodeling step, while missing pores may help explain differences in antibiotic susceptibility. Both ideas require further testing.
Scheeder said immobilizing cells without disturbing growth and reproduction should allow researchers to image a wider range of live bacteria than before. That may help reveal species differences and the reasons antibiotics work against some organisms but not others.
Anna Scheeder and colleagues published “Nanometer-resolution imaging of living bacteria across species and cellular orientations” in Nature Communications in 2026. The DOI is 10.1038/s41467-026-78975-y.
Better images came first.
via phys.org/rss-feed/ (Source)
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Correspondent covering money, funding and market shifts around general science news at SciBeat.
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