Sayantan Datta

We introduce super-resolution panoramic integration (SPI), an on-the-fly microscopy technique enabling instantaneous generation of subdiffractional images concurrently with scalable, high-throughput screening. SPI leverages multifocal optical rescaling, high-content sweeping, and synchronized linescan readout while preserving minimal post-processing and compatibility with epi-fluorescence settings. We demonstrate SPI for various subcellular and populational morphology, function, and heterogeneity. This versatile platform offers a practical pathway toward biological insights beyond traditional optical and computational constraints.

The Type VI Secretion System (T6SS) is a widespread and highly effective mechanism of microbial warfare; it confers the ability to efficiently kill susceptible cells within close proximity. Due to its large physical size, complexity, and ballistic basis for intoxication, it has widely been assumed to incur significant growth costs in the absence of improved competitive outcomes. In this study, we precisely examine the fitness costs of constitutive T6SS firing in the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. We find that, contrary to expectations, constitutive expression of the T6SS has a negligible impact on growth, reducing growth fitness by 0.025 ± 0.5% (95% CI) relative to a T6SS− control. Mathematical modeling of microbial populations demonstrates that, due to clonal interference, constitutive expression of the T6SS will often be neutral, with little impact on evolutionary outcomes. Our findings underscore the importance of precisely measuring the fitness costs of microbial social behaviors and help explain the prevalence of the T6SS across Gram‐negative bacteria.

A new species of multicellular bacteria broadens our understanding of prokaryotic multicellularity and provides insight into how multicellular organisms arise.