Spatial Mapping and Host Linking of Mobile Genetic Elements in Complex Microbiomes - Optimization of single molecule MGE FISH

We used <em>Escherichia coli </em>transformed with pJKR-H-tetR plasmids encoding an inducible <em>GFP</em> gene as a model system to assess and optimize MGE-FISH on a confocal microscope. We designed FISH probes for the non-coding strand of the <em>GFP</em> gene, used non-transformed <em>E. coli </em>as a negative control, and tested six different FISH protocols.<strong> </strong>