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Zhang H, Wang S, Liu D, Gao C, Han Y, Guo X, Qu X, Li W, Zhang S, Geng J, Zhang L, Mendelson A, Yazdanbakhsh K, Chen L, An X. EpoR-tdTomato-Cre mice enable identification of EpoR expression in subsets of tissue macrophages and hematopoietic cells. Blood 2021; 138:1986-1997. [PMID: 34098576 PMCID: PMC8767788 DOI: 10.1182/blood.2021011410] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2021] [Accepted: 05/22/2021] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The erythropoietin receptor (EpoR) has traditionally been thought of as an erythroid-specific gene. Notably, accumulating evidence suggests that EpoR is expressed well beyond erythroid cells. However, the expression of EpoR in non-erythroid cells has been controversial. In this study, we generated EpoR-tdTomato-Cre mice and used them to examine the expression of EpoR in tissue macrophages and hematopoietic cells. We show that in marked contrast to the previously available EpoR-eGFPcre mice, in which a very weak eGFP signal was detected in erythroid cells, tdTomato was readily detectable in both fetal liver (FL) and bone marrow (BM) erythroid cells at all developmental stages and exhibited dynamic changes during erythropoiesis. Consistent with our recent finding that erythroblastic island (EBI) macrophages are characterized by the expression of EpoR, tdTomato was readily detected in both FL and BM EBI macrophages. Moreover, tdTomato was also detected in subsets of hematopoietic stem cells, progenitors, megakaryocytes, and B cells in BM as well as in spleen red pulp macrophages and liver Kupffer cells. The expression of EpoR was further shown by the EpoR-tdTomato-Cre-mediated excision of the floxed STOP sequence. Importantly, EPO injection selectively promoted proliferation of the EpoR-expressing cells and induced erythroid lineage bias during hematopoiesis. Our findings imply broad roles for EPO/EpoR in hematopoiesis that warrant further investigation. The EpoR-tdTomato-Cre mouse line provides a powerful tool to facilitate future studies on EpoR expression and regulation in various non-hematopoietic cells and to conditionally manipulate gene expression in EpoR-expressing cells for functional studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Huan Zhang
- School of Life Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China; and
- Laboratory of Membrane Biology and
| | - Shihui Wang
- School of Life Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China; and
- Laboratory of Membrane Biology and
| | - Donghao Liu
- School of Life Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China; and
| | | | | | | | - Xiaoli Qu
- School of Life Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China; and
| | - Wei Li
- Laboratory of Membrane Biology and
| | - Shijie Zhang
- School of Life Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China; and
| | - Jingyu Geng
- School of Life Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China; and
| | - Linlin Zhang
- School of Life Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China; and
| | - Avital Mendelson
- Laboratory of Complement Biology, New York Blood Center, New York, NY
| | | | - Lixiang Chen
- School of Life Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China; and
| | - Xiuli An
- Laboratory of Membrane Biology and
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2
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Killoran MP, Levin S, Boursier ME, Zimmerman K, Hurst R, Hall MP, Machleidt T, Kirkland TA, Friedman Ohana R. An Integrated Approach toward NanoBRET Tracers for Analysis of GPCR Ligand Engagement. Molecules 2021; 26:molecules26102857. [PMID: 34065854 PMCID: PMC8151276 DOI: 10.3390/molecules26102857] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2021] [Revised: 05/06/2021] [Accepted: 05/07/2021] [Indexed: 01/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Gaining insight into the pharmacology of ligand engagement with G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) under biologically relevant conditions is vital to both drug discovery and basic research. NanoLuc-based bioluminescence resonance energy transfer (NanoBRET) monitoring competitive binding between fluorescent tracers and unmodified test compounds has emerged as a robust and sensitive method to quantify ligand engagement with specific GPCRs genetically fused to NanoLuc luciferase or the luminogenic HiBiT peptide. However, development of fluorescent tracers is often challenging and remains the principal bottleneck for this approach. One way to alleviate the burden of developing a specific tracer for each receptor is using promiscuous tracers, which is made possible by the intrinsic specificity of BRET. Here, we devised an integrated tracer discovery workflow that couples machine learning-guided in silico screening for scaffolds displaying promiscuous binding to GPCRs with a blend of synthetic strategies to rapidly generate multiple tracer candidates. Subsequently, these candidates were evaluated for binding in a NanoBRET ligand-engagement screen across a library of HiBiT-tagged GPCRs. Employing this workflow, we generated several promiscuous fluorescent tracers that can effectively engage multiple GPCRs, demonstrating the efficiency of this approach. We believe that this workflow has the potential to accelerate discovery of NanoBRET fluorescent tracers for GPCRs and other target classes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael P. Killoran
- Promega Corporation, 2800 Woods Hollow, Fitchburg, WI 53711, USA; (M.P.K.); (M.E.B.); (K.Z.); (R.H.); (M.P.H.); (T.M.)
| | - Sergiy Levin
- Promega Biosciences LLC, 277 Granada Drive, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401, USA; (S.L.); (T.A.K.)
| | - Michelle E. Boursier
- Promega Corporation, 2800 Woods Hollow, Fitchburg, WI 53711, USA; (M.P.K.); (M.E.B.); (K.Z.); (R.H.); (M.P.H.); (T.M.)
| | - Kristopher Zimmerman
- Promega Corporation, 2800 Woods Hollow, Fitchburg, WI 53711, USA; (M.P.K.); (M.E.B.); (K.Z.); (R.H.); (M.P.H.); (T.M.)
| | - Robin Hurst
- Promega Corporation, 2800 Woods Hollow, Fitchburg, WI 53711, USA; (M.P.K.); (M.E.B.); (K.Z.); (R.H.); (M.P.H.); (T.M.)
| | - Mary P. Hall
- Promega Corporation, 2800 Woods Hollow, Fitchburg, WI 53711, USA; (M.P.K.); (M.E.B.); (K.Z.); (R.H.); (M.P.H.); (T.M.)
| | - Thomas Machleidt
- Promega Corporation, 2800 Woods Hollow, Fitchburg, WI 53711, USA; (M.P.K.); (M.E.B.); (K.Z.); (R.H.); (M.P.H.); (T.M.)
| | - Thomas A. Kirkland
- Promega Biosciences LLC, 277 Granada Drive, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401, USA; (S.L.); (T.A.K.)
| | - Rachel Friedman Ohana
- Promega Corporation, 2800 Woods Hollow, Fitchburg, WI 53711, USA; (M.P.K.); (M.E.B.); (K.Z.); (R.H.); (M.P.H.); (T.M.)
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +1-608-274-1181
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Abstract
Bioluminescence imaging with luciferase-luciferin pairs is routinely used to monitor cellular functions. Multiple targets can be visualized in tandem using luciferases that process unique substrates, but only a handful of such orthogonal probes are known. Multiplexed studies require additional robust, light-emitting molecules. In this work, we report new luciferins for orthogonal imaging that comprise disubstituted cores. These probes were found to be bright emitters with various engineered luciferases. The unique patterns of light output also provided insight into enzyme-substrate interactions necessary for productive emission. Screening studies identified mutant luciferases that could preferentially process the disubstituted analogues, enabling orthogonal imaging with existing bioluminescent reporters. Further mutational analyses revealed the origins of substrate selectivity. Collectively, this work provides insights into luciferase-luciferin features relevant to bioluminescence and expands the number of probes for multicomponent tracking.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sierra J. Williams
- Department of Chemistry, University of California, Irvine; Irvine, California 92697, United States
| | - Clare S. Hwang
- Department of Public Health, University of California, Irvine; Irvine, California 92697, United States
| | - Jennifer A. Prescher
- Department of Chemistry, University of California, Irvine; Irvine, California 92697, United States
- Department of Molecular Biology & Biochemistry, University of California, Irvine; Irvine, California 92697, United States
- Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California, Irvine; Irvine, California 92697, United States
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Gaspar N, Walker JR, Zambito G, Marella-Panth K, Lowik C, Kirkland TA, Mezzanotte L. Evaluation of NanoLuc substrates for bioluminescence imaging of transferred cells in mice. J Photochem Photobiol B 2021; 216:112128. [PMID: 33529963 DOI: 10.1016/j.jphotobiol.2021.112128] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2020] [Revised: 12/23/2020] [Accepted: 01/19/2021] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
NanoLuc luciferase recently gained popularity due to its small size and superior bioluminescence performance. For in vivo imaging applications, NanoLuc has been limited by its substrate furimazine, which has low solubility and bioavailability. Herein, we compared the performances of recently reported NanoLuc luciferase substrates for in vivo imaging in mice. Two substrates with improved aqueous solubility, hydrofurimazine and fluorofurimazine, were evaluated along with three stabilized O-acetylated furimazine analogues, the hikarazines. All 5 analogues, when tested in vitro, displayed greater signal intensity and reaction duration, in comparison to the standard NanoLuc substrate, furimazine. The two best-performing analogues from the in vitro study were selected for further in vivo testing. The NanoLuc/fluorofurimazine pair demonstrated the highest bioluminescence intensity, post intravenous administration. It was found to be around 9-fold brighter compared to the NanoLuc/furimazine and 11-fold more intense than the NanoLuc/hikarazine-003 pair, with an average of 3-fold higher light emission when the substrate was injected intraperitoneally, in a subcutaneous model. Excitingly, despite the fact that NanoLuc/fluorofurimazine emits mostly blue light, we prove that cells trapped in mice lungs vasculature could be visualised via the NanoLuc/fluorofurimazine pair and compare the results to the AkaLuc/AkaLumine system. Therefore, among the tested analogues, fluorofurimazine enables higher substrate loading and improved optical imaging sensitivity in small animals, upgrading the use of NanoLuc derived bioluminescent systems for deep tissue imaging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Natasa Gaspar
- Erasmus Medical Center, Optical molecular Imaging, Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Rotterdam, Netherlands; Erasmus Medical Center, Department of Molecular Genetics, Rotterdam, Netherlands; Percuros B.V., Leiden, Netherlands
| | - Joel R Walker
- Promega Biosciences L.L.C., San Luis Obispo, United States
| | - Giorgia Zambito
- Erasmus Medical Center, Optical molecular Imaging, Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Rotterdam, Netherlands; Erasmus Medical Center, Department of Molecular Genetics, Rotterdam, Netherlands; Medres Medical Research GMBH, Cologne, Germany
| | - Kranthi Marella-Panth
- Erasmus Medical Center, Optical molecular Imaging, Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Rotterdam, Netherlands; Erasmus Medical Center, Department of Molecular Genetics, Rotterdam, Netherlands
| | - Clemens Lowik
- Erasmus Medical Center, Optical molecular Imaging, Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Rotterdam, Netherlands; Erasmus Medical Center, Department of Molecular Genetics, Rotterdam, Netherlands; University Hospital of Lausanne, CHUV-UNIL, Department of Oncology, Ludwig Cancer Center Lausanne, Switzerland
| | | | - Laura Mezzanotte
- Erasmus Medical Center, Optical molecular Imaging, Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Rotterdam, Netherlands; Erasmus Medical Center, Department of Molecular Genetics, Rotterdam, Netherlands.
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Arias CAD, Matsudo MC, Ferreira-Camargo LS, Molino JVD, Mayfield SP, de Carvalho JCM. Semicontinuous system for the production of recombinant mCherry protein in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Biotechnol Prog 2021; 37:e3101. [PMID: 33169497 DOI: 10.1002/btpr.3101] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2020] [Revised: 10/23/2020] [Accepted: 10/28/2020] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Biotechnology advances have allowed bacteria, yeasts, plants, mammalian and insect cells to function as heterologous protein expression systems. Recently, microalgae have gained attention as an innovative platform for recombinant protein production, due to low culture media cost, compared to traditional systems, as well as the fact that microalgae such as Chlamydomonas reinhardtii are considered safe (GRAS) by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Previous studies showed that recombinant protein production in traditional platforms by semicontinuous process increased biomass and bio product productivity, when compared to batch process. As there is a lack of studies on semicontinuous process for recombinant protein production in microalgae, the production of recombinant mCherry fluorescent protein was evaluated by semicontinuous cultivation of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii in bubble column photobioreactor. This semicontinuous cultivation process was evaluated in the following conditions: 20%, 40%, and 60% culture portion withdrawal. The highest culture withdrawal percentage (60%) provided the best results, as an up to 161% increase in mCherry productivity (454.5 RFU h-1 - Relative Fluorescence Unit h-1 ), in comparison to batch cultivation (174.0 RFU h-1 ) of the same strain. All cultivations were carried out for 13 days, at pH 7, temperature 25°C and, by semicontinuous process, two culture withdrawals were taken during the cultivations. Throughout the production cycles, it was possible to obtain biomass concentration up to 1.36 g L-1 .
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Affiliation(s)
- Cesar Andres Diaz Arias
- Department of Biochemical and Pharmaceutical Technology, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
| | | | | | - João Vitor Dutra Molino
- Department of Biochemical and Pharmaceutical Technology, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
| | - Stephen Patrick Mayfield
- Department of Molecular Biology, and The California Center for Algae Biotechnology, University of California, San Diego, California, USA
| | - João Carlos Monteiro de Carvalho
- Department of Biochemical and Pharmaceutical Technology, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
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Richter V, Lanzerstorfer P, Weghuber J, Schneckenburger H. Super-Resolution Live Cell Microscopy of Membrane-Proximal Fluorophores. Int J Mol Sci 2020; 21:E7099. [PMID: 32993061 PMCID: PMC7582769 DOI: 10.3390/ijms21197099] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2020] [Revised: 09/14/2020] [Accepted: 09/22/2020] [Indexed: 01/02/2023] Open
Abstract
Here, we present a simple and robust experimental setup for the super-resolution live cell microscopy of membrane-proximal fluorophores, which is comparably easy to perform and to implement. The method is based on Structured Illumination Microscopy (SIM) with a switchable spatial light modulator (SLM) and exchangeable objective lenses for epi-illumination and total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy. While, in the case of SIM (upon epi-illumination), cell layers of about 1-2 µm in close proximity to the plasma membrane can be selected by software, layers in the 100 nm range are assessed experimentally by TIRF-SIM. To show the applicability of this approach, both methods are used to measure the translocation of the glucose transporter 4 (GLUT4) from intracellular vesicles to the plasma membrane upon stimulation by insulin or insulin-mimetic compounds, with a lateral resolution of around 100 nm and an axial resolution of around 200 nm. While SIM is an appropriate method to visualize the intracellular localization of GLUT4 fused with a green fluorescent protein, TIRF-SIM permits the quantitative evaluation of its fluorescence in the plasma membrane. These imaging methods are discussed in the context of fluorescence lifetime kinetics, providing additional data for the molecular microenvironment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Verena Richter
- Institute of Applied Research, Aalen University, 373430 Aalen, Germany;
| | - Peter Lanzerstorfer
- Department of Food Technology and Nutrition, University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, 4600 Wels, Austria; (P.L.); (J.W.)
- Austrian Competence Center for Feed and Food Quality, Safety and Innovation, 3430 Tulln, Austria
| | - Julian Weghuber
- Department of Food Technology and Nutrition, University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, 4600 Wels, Austria; (P.L.); (J.W.)
- Austrian Competence Center for Feed and Food Quality, Safety and Innovation, 3430 Tulln, Austria
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Endo M, Ozawa T. Advanced Bioluminescence System for In Vivo Imaging with Brighter and Red-Shifted Light Emission. Int J Mol Sci 2020; 21:E6538. [PMID: 32906768 PMCID: PMC7555964 DOI: 10.3390/ijms21186538] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2020] [Revised: 09/03/2020] [Accepted: 09/04/2020] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
In vivo bioluminescence imaging (BLI), which is based on luminescence emitted by the luciferase-luciferin reaction, has enabled continuous monitoring of various biochemical processes in living animals. Bright luminescence with a high signal-to-background ratio, ideally red or near-infrared light as the emission maximum, is necessary for in vivo animal experiments. Various attempts have been undertaken to achieve this goal, including genetic engineering of luciferase, chemical modulation of luciferin, and utilization of bioluminescence resonance energy transfer (BRET). In this review, we overview a recent advance in the development of a bioluminescence system for in vivo BLI. We also specifically examine the improvement in bioluminescence intensity by mutagenic or chemical modulation on several beetle and marine luciferase bioluminescence systems. We further describe that intramolecular BRET enhances luminescence emission, with recent attempts for the development of red-shifted bioluminescence system, showing great potency in in vivo BLI. Perspectives for future improvement of bioluminescence systems are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Takeaki Ozawa
- Department of Chemistry, School of Science, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan;
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Chen Z, Meng X, Zou L, Zhao M, Liu S, Tao P, Jiang J, Zhao Q. A Dual-Emissive Phosphorescent Polymeric Probe for Exploring Drug-Induced Liver Injury via Imaging of Peroxynitrite Elevation In Vivo. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 2020; 12:12383-12394. [PMID: 32091195 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.9b18135] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) is a widespread clinical problem. The pathophysiological mechanisms of DILI are complicated, and the traditional diagnostic methods for DILI have their limitations. Owing to its convenient operation, high sensitivity, and high specificity, luminescent sensing and imaging as an indispensable tool in biological research and clinical trials may provide an important means for DILI study. Herein, we report the rational design and preparation of a near-infrared dual-phosphorescent polymeric probe (P-ONOO) for exploring the DILI via specific imaging of peroxynitrite (ONOO-) elevation in vivo, which was one of early markers of DILI and very difficult to be detected due to its short half-life and high reactive activity. With the utilization of P-ONOO, the raised ONOO- was visualized successfully in the drug-treated hepatocytes with a high signal-to-noise ratio via ratiometric and time-resolved photoluminescence imaging. Importantly, the ONOO- boost in the acetaminophen-induced liver injury in real time was verified, and the direct observation of the elevated ONOO- production in ketoconazole-induced liver injury was achieved for the first time. Our findings may contribute to understanding the exact mechanism of ketoconazole-induced hepatotoxicity that is still ambiguous. Notably, this luminescent approach for revealing the liver injury works fast and conveniently.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zejing Chen
- Key Laboratory for Organic Electronics and Information Displays & Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Biosensors, Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, 9 Wenyuan Road, Nanjing 210023, P. R. China
- Jiangxi Key Laboratory for Nano-Biomaterials, Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), East China Jiaotong University, 808 Shuanggang East Main Street, Nanchang 330013, P. R. China
| | - Xiangchun Meng
- Key Laboratory for Organic Electronics and Information Displays & Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Biosensors, Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, 9 Wenyuan Road, Nanjing 210023, P. R. China
| | - Liang Zou
- Key Laboratory for Organic Electronics and Information Displays & Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Biosensors, Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, 9 Wenyuan Road, Nanjing 210023, P. R. China
| | - Menglong Zhao
- Key Laboratory for Organic Electronics and Information Displays & Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Biosensors, Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, 9 Wenyuan Road, Nanjing 210023, P. R. China
| | - Shujuan Liu
- Key Laboratory for Organic Electronics and Information Displays & Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Biosensors, Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, 9 Wenyuan Road, Nanjing 210023, P. R. China
| | - Peng Tao
- Key Laboratory for Organic Electronics and Information Displays & Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Biosensors, Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, 9 Wenyuan Road, Nanjing 210023, P. R. China
| | - Jiayang Jiang
- Key Laboratory for Organic Electronics and Information Displays & Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Biosensors, Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, 9 Wenyuan Road, Nanjing 210023, P. R. China
| | - Qiang Zhao
- Key Laboratory for Organic Electronics and Information Displays & Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Biosensors, Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, 9 Wenyuan Road, Nanjing 210023, P. R. China
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Dong Y, Suo H, Yang X, Zhao X, Zhou X. Eu(III) complex based on nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs loxoprofen as the ligand: A novel low-toxic luminescent material for cell imaging. Spectrochim Acta A Mol Biomol Spectrosc 2020; 229:118014. [PMID: 31923791 DOI: 10.1016/j.saa.2019.118014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2019] [Revised: 12/18/2019] [Accepted: 12/27/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Eu(III) 2-{4-[(2-oxocyclopentyl)methyl]phenyl}propanoic acid complex (Eu-LPF), a novel low-toxic luminescent material based on energy transfer between the LPF ligand and Eu3+ ion, was synthesized and characterized by means of elemental analysis, thermogravimetric analyses, and FT-IR spectra. The spectroscopic properties of Eu-LPF were studied using UV-vis absorption spectroscopy and steady/transient state luminescence spectroscopy. Furthermore, the cytotoxicity of Eu-LPF on MCF-7 cells was investigated by MTT assay and flow cytometry. Its biocompatibility and utilization for cell imaging were studied as well. The results showed that Eu-LPF exhibited favorable luminescence properties, low toxicity and good biocompatibility, which endowed Eu-LPF with a potential capability for bioimaging and optical detection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yu Dong
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Rare-Earth Optical Functional Materials and Devices Development & College of Physics and Optoelectronic Technology, Baoji University of Arts and Sciences, Baoji 721016, China
| | - Hao Suo
- Hebei Key Lab of Optic-Electronic Information and Materials, College of Physics Science & Technology, Hebei University, Baoding 071002, China
| | - Xing Yang
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Rare-Earth Optical Functional Materials and Devices Development & College of Physics and Optoelectronic Technology, Baoji University of Arts and Sciences, Baoji 721016, China
| | - Xiaoqi Zhao
- Collaborative Innovation Center of Rare-Earth Optical Functional Materials and Devices Development & College of Physics and Optoelectronic Technology, Baoji University of Arts and Sciences, Baoji 721016, China.
| | - Xianju Zhou
- School of Science, Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Chongqing 400065, China.
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Fouda AY, Xu Z, Narayanan SP, Caldwell RW, Caldwell RB. Utility of LysM-cre and Cdh5-cre Driver Mice in Retinal and Brain Research: An Imaging Study Using tdTomato Reporter Mouse. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 2020; 61:51. [PMID: 32232350 PMCID: PMC7405957 DOI: 10.1167/iovs.61.3.51] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2019] [Accepted: 01/22/2020] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Purpose The lysozyme 2 (Lyz2 or LysM) cre mouse is extensively used to achieve genetic manipulation in myeloid cells and it has been widely employed in retinal research. However, LysM has been recently described to be expressed in brain neurons and there is a debate on whether it is also expressed by resident microglia in addition to infiltrating macrophages. Methods We examined LysM-cre recombination in retinal tissue using a LysM-cre/tdTomato reporter mouse together with immunolabeling for several retinal cell markers. We further compared LysM-cre tdTomato recombination with that of Cdh5-cre driver, which is expressed in both endothelial and hematopoietic cells. Results LysM-cre was strongly expressed in most microglia/resident macrophages in neonatal retinas (P8) and to a lesser extent in microglia of adult retinas. In addition, there was some neuronal recombination (8 %) of LysM-cre specifically in adult retinal ganglion cells and amacrine cells. After retinal ischemia-reperfusion injury, LysM-cre was strongly expressed in microglia/infiltrating macrophages. Cdh5-cre was expressed in endothelial and myeloid cells of P8 pups retinas. Unexpectedly, Cdh5 showed additional expression in adult mouse retinal ganglion cells and brain neurons. Conclusions LysM-cre is expressed in macrophages and a subset of microglia together with a small but significant recombination of LysM-cre in the retinal neurons of adult mice. Cdh5 also showed some neuronal expression in both retina and brain of adult mice. These findings should be taken into consideration when interpreting results from central nervous system research using LysM-cre and Cdh5-cre mice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abdelrahman Y. Fouda
- Vascular Biology Center, Augusta University, Augusta, Georgia, United States
- Culver Vision Discovery Institute, Augusta University, Augusta, Georgia, United States
- Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center, Augusta, Georgia, United States
| | - Zhimin Xu
- Vascular Biology Center, Augusta University, Augusta, Georgia, United States
- Culver Vision Discovery Institute, Augusta University, Augusta, Georgia, United States
- Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center, Augusta, Georgia, United States
| | - S. Priya Narayanan
- Vascular Biology Center, Augusta University, Augusta, Georgia, United States
- Culver Vision Discovery Institute, Augusta University, Augusta, Georgia, United States
- Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center, Augusta, Georgia, United States
- Department of Clinical and Administrative Pharmacy, University of Georgia, Augusta, Georgia, United States
| | - R. William Caldwell
- Culver Vision Discovery Institute, Augusta University, Augusta, Georgia, United States
- Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Augusta University, Augusta, Georgia, United States
| | - Ruth B. Caldwell
- Vascular Biology Center, Augusta University, Augusta, Georgia, United States
- Culver Vision Discovery Institute, Augusta University, Augusta, Georgia, United States
- Department of Cellular Biology & Anatomy, Augusta University, Augusta, Georgia, United States
- Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center, Augusta, Georgia, United States
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De Leo TC, Nascimento Dos Santos S, Del Cistia Andrade C, Ricci E, Turato WM, Lopes NP, Oliveira RS, Bernardes ES, Dias-Baruffi M. Engineering of galectin-3 for glycan-binding optical imaging. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 2019; 521:674-680. [PMID: 31685208 DOI: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2019.10.161] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2019] [Accepted: 10/22/2019] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
Galectin-3 (Gal-3) is a multifunctional glycan-binding protein that participates in many pathophysiological events and has been described as a biomarker and potential therapeutic target for severe disorders, such as cancer. Several probes for Gal-3 or its ligands have been developed, however both the pathophysiological mechanisms and potential biomedical applications of Gal-3 remain not fully assessed. Molecular imaging using bioluminescent probes provides great sensitivity for in vivo and in vitro analysis for both cellular and whole multicellular organism tracking and target detection. Here, we engineered a chimeric molecule consisting of Renilla luciferase fused with mouse Gal-3 (RLuc-mGal-3). RLuc-mGal-3 preparation was highly homogenous, soluble, active, and has molecular mass of 65,870.95 Da. This molecule was able to bind to MKN45 cell surface, property which was inhibited by the reduction of Gal-3 ligands on the cell surface by the overexpression of ST6GalNAc-I. In order to obtain an efficient and stable delivery system, RLuc-mGal-3 was adsorbed to poly-lactic acid nanoparticles, which increased binding to MKN45 cells in vitro. Furthermore, bioluminescence imaging showed that RLuc-mGal-3 was able to indicate the presence of implanted tumor in mice, event drastically inhibited by the presence of lactose. This novel bioluminescent chimeric molecule offers a safe and highly sensitive alternative to fluorescent and radiolabeled probes with potential application in biomedical research for a better understanding of the distribution and fate of Gal-3 and its ligands in vitro and in vivo.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thais Canassa De Leo
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Ribeirao Preto, University of Sao Paulo, Av. Cafe S/N, CEP 14040-903, Ribeirao Preto, SP, Brazil
| | | | - Camillo Del Cistia Andrade
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Ribeirao Preto, University of Sao Paulo, Av. Cafe S/N, CEP 14040-903, Ribeirao Preto, SP, Brazil
| | - Eduardo Ricci
- Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
| | - Walter Miguel Turato
- Department of Clinical and Toxicological Analyses, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil
| | - Norberto Peporine Lopes
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Ribeirao Preto, University of Sao Paulo, Av. Cafe S/N, CEP 14040-903, Ribeirao Preto, SP, Brazil
| | | | | | - Marcelo Dias-Baruffi
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Ribeirao Preto, University of Sao Paulo, Av. Cafe S/N, CEP 14040-903, Ribeirao Preto, SP, Brazil.
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12
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Wu D, Yang Y, Xu P, Xu D, Liu Y, Castillo R, Yan R, Ren J, Zhou G, Liu C, Qin M, Du J, Hou L, Chen I, Kang C, Jin L, Wen J, Chen W, Lu Y. Real-Time Quantification of Cell Internalization Kinetics by Functionalized Bioluminescent Nanoprobes. Adv Mater 2019; 31:e1902469. [PMID: 31402525 DOI: 10.1002/adma.201902469] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2019] [Revised: 06/14/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Cells transport mass dynamically, crossing cell membranes to maintain metabolism and systemic homeostasis, through which biomolecules are also delivered to cells for gene editing, cell reprograming, therapy, and other purposes. Quantifying the translocation kinetics is fundamentally and clinically essential, but remains limited by fluorescence-based technologies, which are semi-quantitative and only provide kinetics information at cellular level or in discrete time. Herein, a real-time method of quantifying cell internalization kinetics is reported using functionalized firefly-luciferase nanocapsules as the probe. This quantitative assay will facilitate the rational design of delivery vectors and enable high-throughput screening of peptides and other functional molecules, constituting an effective tool for broad applications, including drug development and cancer therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Di Wu
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, School of Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
| | - Yilong Yang
- Beijing Institute of Biotechnology, Beijing, 100071, China
| | - Pengcheng Xu
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, School of Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
| | - Duo Xu
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, School of Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
| | - Yang Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemical Biology, Key Laboratory of Functional Polymer Materials of Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300071, China
| | - Roxanne Castillo
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, School of Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
| | - Ran Yan
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, School of Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
- College of Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Engineering, Nanjing Tech University, Nanjing, 211816, China
| | - Jie Ren
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, School of Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
| | - George Zhou
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, School of Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
| | - Chaoyong Liu
- College of Life Science and Technology, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Soft Matter Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, 100029, China
| | - Meng Qin
- College of Life Science and Technology, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Soft Matter Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, 100029, China
| | - Juanjuan Du
- School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China
| | - Lihua Hou
- Beijing Institute of Biotechnology, Beijing, 100071, China
| | - Irvin Chen
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA AIDS Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
| | - Chunsheng Kang
- Tianjin Neurological Institute, Key Laboratory of Post-Neurotrauma Neuro-Repair and Regeneration in Central Nervous System, Ministry of Education and Tianjin City, Tianjin, 300052, China
- Department of Neurosurgery, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, 300052, China
| | - Lihua Jin
- Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
| | - Jing Wen
- Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA AIDS Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
| | - Wei Chen
- Beijing Institute of Biotechnology, Beijing, 100071, China
| | - Yunfeng Lu
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, School of Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA
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13
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Sharma M, Kretschmer C, Lampe C, Stuttmann J, Klösgen RB. Targeting specificity of nuclear-encoded organelle proteins with a self-assembling split-fluorescent protein toolkit. J Cell Sci 2019; 132:jcs230839. [PMID: 31085714 DOI: 10.1242/jcs.230839] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/12/2019] [Accepted: 05/01/2019] [Indexed: 12/21/2022] Open
Abstract
A large number of nuclear-encoded proteins are targeted to the organelles of endosymbiotic origin, namely mitochondria and plastids. To determine the targeting specificity of these proteins, fluorescent protein tagging is a popular approach. However, ectopic expression of fluorescent protein fusions commonly results in considerable background signals and often suffers from the large size and robust folding of the reporter protein, which may perturb membrane transport. Among the alternative approaches that have been developed in recent years, the self-assembling split-fluorescent protein (sasplit-FP) technology appears particularly promising to analyze protein targeting specificity in vivo Here, we improved the sensitivity of this technology and systematically evaluated its utilization to determine protein targeting to plastids and mitochondria. Furthermore, to facilitate high-throughput screening of candidate proteins we developed a Golden Gate-based vector toolkit (PlaMinGo). As a result of these improvements, dual targeting could be detected for a number of proteins that had earlier been characterized as being targeted to a single organelle only. These results were independently confirmed with a plant phenotype complementation approach based on the immutans mutant.This article has an associated First Person interview with the first author of the paper.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mayank Sharma
- Institute of Biology-Plant Physiology, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Weinbergweg 10, 06120 Halle (Saale), Germany
| | - Carola Kretschmer
- Institute of Biology-Genetics, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Weinbergweg 10, 06120 Halle (Saale), Germany
| | - Christina Lampe
- Institute of Biology-Plant Physiology, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Weinbergweg 10, 06120 Halle (Saale), Germany
| | - Johannes Stuttmann
- Institute of Biology-Genetics, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Weinbergweg 10, 06120 Halle (Saale), Germany
| | - Ralf Bernd Klösgen
- Institute of Biology-Plant Physiology, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Weinbergweg 10, 06120 Halle (Saale), Germany
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14
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Shell JR, LaRochelle EP, Bruza P, Gunn JR, Jarvis LA, Gladstone DJ, Pogue BW. Comparison of phosphorescent agents for noninvasive sensing of tumor oxygenation via Cherenkov-excited luminescence imaging. J Biomed Opt 2019; 24:1-8. [PMID: 30834723 PMCID: PMC6397946 DOI: 10.1117/1.jbo.24.3.036001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2018] [Accepted: 02/01/2019] [Indexed: 05/20/2023]
Abstract
Cherenkov emission generated in tissue during radiotherapy can be harnessed for the imaging biochemistry of tissue microenvironments. Cherenkov-excited luminescence scanned imaging (CELSI) provides a way to optically and noninvasively map oxygen-related signals, which is known to correlate to outcomes in radiotherapy. Four candidate phosphorescent reagents PtG4, MM2, Ir(btb)2 ( acac ) , and MitoID were studied for oxygen sensing, testing in a progressive series of (a) in solution, (b) in vitro, and (c) in subcutaneous tumors. In each test, the signal strength and response to oxygen were assessed by phosphorescence intensity and decay lifetime measurement. MM2 showed the most robust response to oxygen changes in solution, followed by PtG4, Ir(btb)2 ( acac ) , and MitoID. However, in PANC-1 cells, their oxygen responses differed with Ir(btb)2 ( acac ) exhibiting the largest phosphorescent intensity change in response to changes in oxygenation, followed by PtG4, MM2, and MitoID. In vivo, it was only possible to utilize Ir(btb)2 ( acac ) and PtG4, with each being used at nanomole levels, to determine signal strength, lifetime, and pO2. Oxygen sensing with CELSI during radiotherapy is feasible and can estimate values from 1 mm regions of tissue when used in the configuration of this study. PtG4 was the most amenable to in vivo sensing on the timescale of external beam LINAC x-rays.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer R. Shell
- Dartmouth College, Thayer School of Engineering, Hanover, New Hampshire, United States
- Address all correspondence to Jennifer R. Shell, E-mail:
| | - Ethan P. LaRochelle
- Dartmouth College, Thayer School of Engineering, Hanover, New Hampshire, United States
| | - Petr Bruza
- Dartmouth College, Thayer School of Engineering, Hanover, New Hampshire, United States
| | - Jason R. Gunn
- Dartmouth College, Thayer School of Engineering, Hanover, New Hampshire, United States
| | - Lesley A. Jarvis
- Dartmouth College, Geisel School of Medicine, Hanover, New Hampshire, United States
| | - David J. Gladstone
- Dartmouth College, Thayer School of Engineering, Hanover, New Hampshire, United States
- Dartmouth College, Geisel School of Medicine, Hanover, New Hampshire, United States
| | - Brian W. Pogue
- Dartmouth College, Thayer School of Engineering, Hanover, New Hampshire, United States
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15
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Datta S, Renwick M, Chau VQ, Zhang F, Nettesheim ER, Lipinski DM, Hulleman JD. A Destabilizing Domain Allows for Fast, Noninvasive, Conditional Control of Protein Abundance in the Mouse Eye - Implications for Ocular Gene Therapy. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci 2018; 59:4909-4920. [PMID: 30347085 PMCID: PMC6181441 DOI: 10.1167/iovs.18-24987] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/11/2018] [Accepted: 08/30/2018] [Indexed: 01/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Purpose Temporal and reversible control of protein expression in vivo is a central goal for many gene therapies, especially for strategies involving proteins that are detrimental to physiology if constitutively expressed. Accordingly, we explored whether protein abundance in the mouse retina could be effectively controlled using a destabilizing Escherichia coli dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) domain whose stability is dependent on the small molecule, trimethoprim (TMP). Methods We intravitreally injected wild-type C57BL6/J mice with an adeno-associated vector (rAAV2/2[MAX]) constitutively expressing separate fluorescent reporters: DHFR fused to yellow fluorescent protein (DHFR.YFP) and mCherry. TMP or vehicle was administered to mice via oral gavage, drinking water, or eye drops. Ocular TMP levels post treatment were quantified by LC-MS/MS. Protein abundance was measured by fundus fluorescence imaging and western blotting. Visual acuity, response to light stimulus, retinal structure, and gene expression were evaluated after long-term (3 months) TMP treatment. Results Without TMP, DHFR.YFP was efficiently degraded in the retina. TMP achieved ocular concentrations of ∼13.6 μM (oral gavage), ∼331 nM (drinking water), and ∼636 nM (eye drops). Oral gavage and TMP eye drops stabilized DHFR.YFP as quickly as 6 hours, whereas continuous TMP drinking water could stabilize DHFR.YFP for ≥3 months. Stabilization was completely and repeatedly reversible following removal/addition of TMP in all regimens. Long-term TMP treatment had no impact on retina function/structure and had no effect on >99.9% of tested genes. Conclusions This DHFR-based conditional system is a rapid, efficient, and reversible tool to effectively control protein expression in the retina.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shyamtanu Datta
- Department of Ophthalmology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, United States
| | - Marian Renwick
- Department of Ophthalmology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, United States
| | - Viet Q. Chau
- Department of Ophthalmology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, United States
| | - Fang Zhang
- Department of Ophthalmology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, United States
| | - Emily R. Nettesheim
- Department of Ophthalmology, Eye Institute, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States
| | - Daniel M. Lipinski
- Department of Ophthalmology, Eye Institute, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States
- Nuffield Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Department of Clinical Neuroscience, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - John D. Hulleman
- Department of Ophthalmology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, United States
- Department of Pharmacology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, United States
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16
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Zhang S, Chen C, Qin X, Zhang Q, Liu J, Zhu J, Gao Y, Li L, Huang W. Ultrasensitive detection of trypsin activity and inhibitor screening based on the electron transfer between phosphorescence copper nanocluster and cytochrome c. Talanta 2018; 189:92-99. [PMID: 30086981 DOI: 10.1016/j.talanta.2018.06.026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/04/2018] [Revised: 05/30/2018] [Accepted: 06/09/2018] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Trypsin, as one of important proteases, is specific for catalyzing the hydrolysis of peptide and ester bonds containing lysine and arginine residues at the C-terminus. The level of trypsin in biological fluids can serve as a reliable and specific diagnostic biomarker for pancreatic function and its pathological changes. Herein, we demonstrate the application of phosphorescent Cu NCs for trypsin detection for the first time depending on the electron transfer between Cu NCs and cyt c. Cyt c and Cu NCs were selected as the quencher and the fluorophore, respectively. Cu NCs could bind to the positively charged cyt c through electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions, and the phosphorescence of Cu NCs was efficiently quenched by the metal-containing heme of cyt c. In the presence of trypsin, cyt c was digested, thus phosphorescence of Cu NCs remained. Therefore, a new and continuous phosphorescence assay for the detection of trypsin activity and its inhibitor screening was established. The plot of relative fluorescence versus trypsin concentration obtains a good linear detection range from 0 to 20 ng/mL (R2 = 0.9657), and a detection limit of 2 ng/mL, which is much lower than 20 ng/mL of the sensor in buffer solution because of urine amplifying the phosphorescence signal of Cu NCs based on the FRET strategy. This assay still has been successfully applied to trypsin inhibitor screening, demonstrating its potential application in drug discovery.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shiyu Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronics (KLOFE) and Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM), Nanjing Tech University (NanjingTech), 30 South Puzhu Road, Nanjing 211816, China
| | - Can Chen
- Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronics (KLOFE) and Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM), Nanjing Tech University (NanjingTech), 30 South Puzhu Road, Nanjing 211816, China
| | - Xiaofei Qin
- Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronics (KLOFE) and Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM), Nanjing Tech University (NanjingTech), 30 South Puzhu Road, Nanjing 211816, China
| | - Qianchen Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronics (KLOFE) and Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM), Nanjing Tech University (NanjingTech), 30 South Puzhu Road, Nanjing 211816, China
| | - Jinhua Liu
- Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronics (KLOFE) and Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM), Nanjing Tech University (NanjingTech), 30 South Puzhu Road, Nanjing 211816, China; State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China.
| | - Jixin Zhu
- Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronics (KLOFE) and Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM), Nanjing Tech University (NanjingTech), 30 South Puzhu Road, Nanjing 211816, China
| | - Yongqian Gao
- Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronics (KLOFE) and Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM), Nanjing Tech University (NanjingTech), 30 South Puzhu Road, Nanjing 211816, China
| | - Lin Li
- Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronics (KLOFE) and Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM), Nanjing Tech University (NanjingTech), 30 South Puzhu Road, Nanjing 211816, China
| | - Wei Huang
- Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronics (KLOFE) and Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Jiangsu National Synergetic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM), Nanjing Tech University (NanjingTech), 30 South Puzhu Road, Nanjing 211816, China; Shaanxi Institute of Flexible Electronics (SIFE), Northwestern Polytechnical University (NPU), 127 West Youyi Road, Xi'an 710072, China
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17
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Besbrugge N, Van Leene J, Eeckhout D, Cannoot B, Kulkarni SR, De Winne N, Persiau G, Van De Slijke E, Bontinck M, Aesaert S, Impens F, Gevaert K, Van Damme D, Van Lijsebettens M, Inzé D, Vandepoele K, Nelissen H, De Jaeger G. GS yellow, a Multifaceted Tag for Functional Protein Analysis in Monocot and Dicot Plants. Plant Physiol 2018; 177:447-464. [PMID: 29678859 PMCID: PMC6001315 DOI: 10.1104/pp.18.00175] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2018] [Accepted: 04/01/2018] [Indexed: 05/04/2023]
Abstract
The ability to tag proteins has boosted the emergence of generic molecular methods for protein functional analysis. Fluorescent protein tags are used to visualize protein localization, and affinity tags enable the mapping of molecular interactions by, for example, tandem affinity purification or chromatin immunoprecipitation. To apply these widely used molecular techniques on a single transgenic plant line, we developed a multifunctional tandem affinity purification tag, named GSyellow, which combines the streptavidin-binding peptide tag with citrine yellow fluorescent protein. We demonstrated the versatility of the GSyellow tag in the dicot Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) using a set of benchmark proteins. For proof of concept in monocots, we assessed the localization and dynamic interaction profile of the leaf growth regulator ANGUSTIFOLIA3 (AN3), fused to the GSyellow tag, along the growth zone of the maize (Zea mays) leaf. To further explore the function of ZmAN3, we mapped its DNA-binding landscape in the growth zone of the maize leaf through chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing. Comparison with AN3 target genes mapped in the developing maize tassel or in Arabidopsis cell cultures revealed strong conservation of AN3 target genes between different maize tissues and across monocots and dicots, respectively. In conclusion, the GSyellow tag offers a powerful molecular tool for distinct types of protein functional analyses in dicots and monocots. As this approach involves transforming a single construct, it is likely to accelerate both basic and translational plant research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nienke Besbrugge
- Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
- VIB Center for Plant Systems Biology, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Jelle Van Leene
- Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
- VIB Center for Plant Systems Biology, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Dominique Eeckhout
- Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
- VIB Center for Plant Systems Biology, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Bernard Cannoot
- Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
- VIB Center for Plant Systems Biology, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Shubhada R Kulkarni
- Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
- VIB Center for Plant Systems Biology, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
- Bioinformatics Institute Ghent, Ghent University, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Nancy De Winne
- Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
- VIB Center for Plant Systems Biology, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Geert Persiau
- Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
- VIB Center for Plant Systems Biology, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Eveline Van De Slijke
- Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
- VIB Center for Plant Systems Biology, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Michiel Bontinck
- Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
- VIB Center for Plant Systems Biology, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Stijn Aesaert
- Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Francis Impens
- Department of Biochemistry, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
- VIB Center for Medical Biotechnology, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
- VIB Proteomics Core, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Kris Gevaert
- Department of Biochemistry, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
- VIB Center for Medical Biotechnology, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Daniel Van Damme
- Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
- VIB Center for Plant Systems Biology, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Mieke Van Lijsebettens
- Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
- VIB Center for Plant Systems Biology, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Dirk Inzé
- Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
- VIB Center for Plant Systems Biology, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Klaas Vandepoele
- Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
- VIB Center for Plant Systems Biology, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
- Bioinformatics Institute Ghent, Ghent University, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Hilde Nelissen
- Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
- VIB Center for Plant Systems Biology, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Geert De Jaeger
- Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
- VIB Center for Plant Systems Biology, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
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18
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Delgado-Galván CJ, Padilla-Vaca F, Montiel FBR, Rangel-Serrano Á, Paramo-Pérez I, Anaya-Velázquez F, Franco B. Red fluorescent protein (DsRFP) optimization for Entamoeba histolytica expression. Exp Parasitol 2018; 187:86-92. [PMID: 29476758 DOI: 10.1016/j.exppara.2018.01.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/13/2017] [Revised: 01/05/2018] [Accepted: 01/30/2018] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
Entamoeba histolytica genetic organization and genome structure is complex and under intense research. The genome is fully sequenced, and several tools have been developed for the molecular study of this organism. Nevertheless, good protein tracking tags that are easy to measure and image, like the fluorescent proteins are lacking. In this report, we codon-optimized the red fluorescent protein from the coral Discosoma striata (DsRFP) for its use in E. histolytica and demonstrated functionality in vivo. We envision that this protein can be widely used for the development of transcriptional reporter systems and protein-tagging applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cindy Jazmín Delgado-Galván
- Departamento de Biología, División de Ciencias Naturales y Exactas, Universidad de Guanajuato, Noria Alta s/n, Guanajuato, Gto. 36050, Mexico
| | - Felipe Padilla-Vaca
- Departamento de Biología, División de Ciencias Naturales y Exactas, Universidad de Guanajuato, Noria Alta s/n, Guanajuato, Gto. 36050, Mexico
| | - Fátima Berenice Ramírez Montiel
- Departamento de Biología, División de Ciencias Naturales y Exactas, Universidad de Guanajuato, Noria Alta s/n, Guanajuato, Gto. 36050, Mexico
| | - Ángeles Rangel-Serrano
- Departamento de Biología, División de Ciencias Naturales y Exactas, Universidad de Guanajuato, Noria Alta s/n, Guanajuato, Gto. 36050, Mexico
| | - Itzel Paramo-Pérez
- Departamento de Biología, División de Ciencias Naturales y Exactas, Universidad de Guanajuato, Noria Alta s/n, Guanajuato, Gto. 36050, Mexico
| | - Fernando Anaya-Velázquez
- Departamento de Biología, División de Ciencias Naturales y Exactas, Universidad de Guanajuato, Noria Alta s/n, Guanajuato, Gto. 36050, Mexico
| | - Bernardo Franco
- Departamento de Biología, División de Ciencias Naturales y Exactas, Universidad de Guanajuato, Noria Alta s/n, Guanajuato, Gto. 36050, Mexico.
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19
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Abstract
Borrelia burgdorferi, etiologic agent of Lyme disease, is the leading tick-borne disease in the United States with approximately 300,000 cases diagnosed annually. Disease occurs in stages beginning localized infection at the site of a tick bite and progresses to disseminated infection when antibiotic treatment is not administered in a timely manner. A multi-systemic infection develops following dissemination to numerous immunoprotective tissues, such as the heart, bladder, and joints, resulting in late Lyme disease. B. burgdorferi undergoes dynamic genetic regulation throughout mammalian infection and defining the exact role of virulence genes at distinct stages of disease is challenging. The murine model allows for the characterization of the pathogenic function of genes in B. burgdorferi, but traditional end point studies limit the ability to gather data throughout an infection study and greatly increase the required number of mice. Molecular genetic techniques to evaluate and quantitate B. burgdorferi infection are laborious and costly. To partly circumvent these issues, a codon optimized firefly luciferase, under the control of a constitutive borrelial promoter, was introduced into B. burgdorferi enabling the characterization of mutant or modified strains under in vitro growth conditions and throughout murine infection. The detection of bioluminescent B. burgdorferi is highly sensitive and allows for the repeated real-time quantitative evaluation of borrelial load during murine infection. Furthermore, bioluminescence has also been utilized to evaluate alteration in tissue localization and tissue-specific gene expression of B. burgdorferi. In this chapter, we describe the generation of bioluminescent borrelial strains along with methods for in vitro, in vivo, and ex vivo B. burgdorferi studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jenny A Hyde
- Department of Microbial Pathogenesis and Immunology, College of Medicine, Texas A&M Health Science Center, Riverside Pkwy, Bryan, Texas, 77807, USA.
| | - Jon T Skare
- Department of Microbial Pathogenesis and Immunology, College of Medicine, Texas A&M Health Science Center, Riverside Pkwy, Bryan, Texas, 77807, USA
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20
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Pratsinis A, Kelesidis GA, Zuercher S, Krumeich F, Bolisetty S, Mezzenga R, Leroux JC, Sotiriou GA. Enzyme-Mimetic Antioxidant Luminescent Nanoparticles for Highly Sensitive Hydrogen Peroxide Biosensing. ACS Nano 2017; 11:12210-12218. [PMID: 29182310 DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.7b05518] [Citation(s) in RCA: 71] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is an abundant molecule associated with biological functions and reacts with natural enzymes, such as catalase. Even though direct H2O2 measurement can be used to diagnose pathological conditions, such as infection and inflammation, H2O2 quantification further enables the detection of disease biomarkers in enzyme-linked assays (e.g., ELISA) in which enzymatic reactions may generate or consume H2O2. Such a quantification is often measured optically with organic dyes in biological media that suffer, however, from poor stability. Currently, the optical H2O2 biosensing without organic-dyes in biological media and at low, submicromolar, concentrations has yet to be achieved. Herein, we rationally design biomimetic artificial enzymes based on antioxidant CeO2 nanoparticles that become luminescent upon their Eu3+ doping. We vary systematically their diameter from 4 to 16 nm and study their catalase-mimetic antioxidant activity, manifested as catalytic H2O2 decomposition in aqueous solutions, revealing a strong nanoparticle surface area dependency. The interaction with H2O2 influences distinctly the particle luminescence rendering them highly sensitive H2O2 biosensors down to 0.15 μM (5.2 ppb) in solutions for biological assays. Our results link two, so far, unrelated research domains, the CeO2 nanoparticle antioxidant activity and luminescence by rare-earth doping. When these enzyme-mimetic nanoparticles are coupled with alcohol oxidase, biosensing can be extended to ethanol exemplifying how their detection potential can be broadened to additional biologically relevant metabolites. The enzyme-mimetic nanomaterial developed here could serve as a starting point of sophisticated in vitro assays toward the highly sensitive detection of disease biomarkers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Pratsinis
- Drug Formulation and Delivery, Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, ETH Zurich , 8093 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Georgios A Kelesidis
- Particle Technology Laboratory, Institute of Process Engineering, Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering, ETH Zurich , 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Stefanie Zuercher
- Drug Formulation and Delivery, Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, ETH Zurich , 8093 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Frank Krumeich
- Particle Technology Laboratory, Institute of Process Engineering, Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering, ETH Zurich , 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Sreenath Bolisetty
- Food and Soft Materials, Institute of Food, Nutrition and Health, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich , 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Raffaele Mezzenga
- Food and Soft Materials, Institute of Food, Nutrition and Health, Department of Health Sciences and Technology, ETH Zurich , 8092 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Jean-Christophe Leroux
- Drug Formulation and Delivery, Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, ETH Zurich , 8093 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Georgios A Sotiriou
- Drug Formulation and Delivery, Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, ETH Zurich , 8093 Zurich, Switzerland
- Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, Karolinska Institutet , 17177 Stockholm, Sweden
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21
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Kwak SY, Giraldo JP, Wong MH, Koman VB, Lew TTS, Ell J, Weidman MC, Sinclair RM, Landry MP, Tisdale WA, Strano MS. A Nanobionic Light-Emitting Plant. Nano Lett 2017; 17:7951-7961. [PMID: 29148804 DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.7b04369] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/21/2023]
Abstract
The engineering of living plants for visible light emission and sustainable illumination is compelling because plants possess independent energy generation and storage mechanisms and autonomous self-repair. Herein, we demonstrate a plant nanobionic approach that enables exceptional luminosity and lifetime utilizing four chemically interacting nanoparticles, including firefly luciferase conjugated silica (SNP-Luc), d-luciferin releasing poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA-LH2), coenzyme A functionalized chitosan (CS-CoA) and semiconductor nanocrystal phosphors for longer wavelength modulation. An in vitro kinetic model incorporating the release rates of the nanoparticles is developed to maximize the chemiluminescent lifetimes to exceed 21.5 h. In watercress (Nasturtium officinale) and other species, the nanoparticles circumvent limitations such as luciferin toxicity above 400 μM and colocalization of enzymatic reactions near high adenosine triphosphate (ATP) production. Pressurized bath infusion of nanoparticles (PBIN) is introduced to deliver a mixture of nanoparticles to the entire living plant, well described using a nanofluidic mathematical model. We rationally design nanoparticle size and charge to control localization within distinct tissues compartments with 10 nm nanoparticles localizing within the leaf mesophyll and stomata guard cells, and those larger than 100 nm segregated in the leaf mesophyll. The results are mature watercress plants that emit greater than 1.44 × 1012 photons/sec or 50% of 1 μW commercial luminescent diodes and modulate "off" and "on" states by chemical addition of dehydroluciferin and coenzyme A, respectively. We show that CdSe nanocrystals can shift the chemiluminescent emission to 760 nm enabling near-infrared (nIR) signaling. These results advance the viability of nanobionic plants as self-powered photonics, direct and indirect light sources.
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Affiliation(s)
- Seon-Yeong Kwak
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology , 77 Massachusetts Aveue, Cambridge, Massachusetts United States
| | - Juan Pablo Giraldo
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology , 77 Massachusetts Aveue, Cambridge, Massachusetts United States
- Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, University of California , 3401 Watkins Drive, Riverside, California United States
| | - Min Hao Wong
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology , 77 Massachusetts Aveue, Cambridge, Massachusetts United States
| | - Volodymyr B Koman
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology , 77 Massachusetts Aveue, Cambridge, Massachusetts United States
| | - Tedrick Thomas Salim Lew
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology , 77 Massachusetts Aveue, Cambridge, Massachusetts United States
| | - Jon Ell
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology , 77 Massachusetts Aveue, Cambridge, Massachusetts United States
| | - Mark C Weidman
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology , 77 Massachusetts Aveue, Cambridge, Massachusetts United States
| | - Rosalie M Sinclair
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology , 77 Massachusetts Aveue, Cambridge, Massachusetts United States
| | - Markita P Landry
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California , 201 Gilman Hall, Berkeley, California United States
| | - William A Tisdale
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology , 77 Massachusetts Aveue, Cambridge, Massachusetts United States
| | - Michael S Strano
- Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology , 77 Massachusetts Aveue, Cambridge, Massachusetts United States
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22
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Iqbal M, Doherty N, Page AML, Qazi SNA, Ajmera I, Lund PA, Kypraios T, Scott DJ, Hill PJ, Stekel DJ. Reconstructing promoter activity from Lux bioluminescent reporters. PLoS Comput Biol 2017; 13:e1005731. [PMID: 28922354 PMCID: PMC5619816 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1005731] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2017] [Revised: 09/28/2017] [Accepted: 08/19/2017] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The bacterial Lux system is used as a gene expression reporter. It is fast, sensitive and non-destructive, enabling high frequency measurements. Originally developed for bacterial cells, it has also been adapted for eukaryotic cells, and can be used for whole cell biosensors, or in real time with live animals without the need for euthanasia. However, correct interpretation of bioluminescent data is limited: the bioluminescence is different from gene expression because of nonlinear molecular and enzyme dynamics of the Lux system. We have developed a computational approach that, for the first time, allows users of Lux assays to infer gene transcription levels from the light output. This approach is based upon a new mathematical model for Lux activity, that includes the actions of LuxAB, LuxEC and Fre, with improved mechanisms for all reactions, as well as synthesis and turn-over of Lux proteins. The model is calibrated with new experimental data for the LuxAB and Fre reactions from Photorhabdus luminescens—the source of modern Lux reporters—while literature data has been used for LuxEC. Importantly, the data show clear evidence for previously unreported product inhibition for the LuxAB reaction. Model simulations show that predicted bioluminescent profiles can be very different from changes in gene expression, with transient peaks of light output, very similar to light output seen in some experimental data sets. By incorporating the calibrated model into a Bayesian inference scheme, we can reverse engineer promoter activity from the bioluminescence. We show examples where a decrease in bioluminescence would be better interpreted as a switching off of the promoter, or where an increase in bioluminescence would be better interpreted as a longer period of gene expression. This approach could benefit all users of Lux technology. Bioluminescent reporters are used in many areas of biology as fast, sensitive and non-destructive measures of gene expression. They have been developed for bacteria, adapted now for other kinds of organisms, and recently been used for whole cell biosensors, and for real-time live animal models for infection without the need for euthanasia. However, users of Lux technologies rely on the light output being similar to the gene expression they wish to measure. We show that this is not the case. Rather, there is a nonlinear relationship between the two: light output can be misleading and so limits the way that such data can be interpreted. We have developed a new computational method that, for the first time, allows users of Lux reporters to infer accurate gene transcription levels from bioluminescent data. We show examples where a small decrease in light would be better interpreted as promoter being switched off, or where an increase in light would be better interpreted as promoter activity for a longer time.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mudassar Iqbal
- Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington Campus, Loughborough, United Kingdom
| | - Neil Doherty
- Food Sciences, School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington Campus, Loughborough, United Kingdom
| | - Anna M. L. Page
- Food Sciences, School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington Campus, Loughborough, United Kingdom
| | - Saara N. A. Qazi
- Food Sciences, School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington Campus, Loughborough, United Kingdom
| | - Ishan Ajmera
- Plant and Crop Sciences, School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington Campus, Loughborough, United Kingdom
| | - Peter A. Lund
- School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom
| | - Theodore Kypraios
- School of Mathematical Sciences, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom
| | - David J. Scott
- Food Sciences, School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington Campus, Loughborough, United Kingdom
| | - Philip J. Hill
- Food Sciences, School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington Campus, Loughborough, United Kingdom
| | - Dov J. Stekel
- Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, School of Biosciences, University of Nottingham, Sutton Bonington Campus, Loughborough, United Kingdom
- * E-mail:
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23
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Budhathoki-Uprety J, Langenbacher RE, Jena PV, Roxbury D, Heller DA. A Carbon Nanotube Optical Sensor Reports Nuclear Entry via a Noncanonical Pathway. ACS Nano 2017; 11:3875-3882. [PMID: 28398031 PMCID: PMC5511501 DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.7b00176] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/25/2023]
Abstract
Single-walled carbon nanotubes are of interest in biomedicine for imaging and molecular sensing applications and as shuttles for various cargos such as chemotherapeutic drugs, peptides, proteins, and oligonucleotides. Carbon nanotube surface chemistry can be modulated for subcellular targeting while preserving photoluminescence for label-free visualization in complex biological environments, making them attractive materials for such studies. The cell nucleus is a potential target for many pathologies including cancer and infectious diseases. Understanding mechanisms of nanomaterial delivery to the nucleus may facilitate diagnostics, drug development, and gene-editing tools. Currently, there are no systematic studies to understand how these nanomaterials gain access to the nucleus. Herein, we developed a carbon nanotube based hybrid material that elucidate a distinct mechanism of nuclear translocation of a nanomaterial in cultured cells. We developed a nuclear-targeted probe via cloaking photoluminescent single-walled carbon nanotubes in a guanidinium-functionalized helical polycarbodiimide. We found that the nuclear entry of the nanotubes was mediated by the import receptor importin β without the aid of importin α and not by the more common importin α/β pathway. Additionally, the nanotube photoluminescence exhibited distinct red-shifting upon entry to the nucleus, potentially functioning as a reporter of the importin β-mediated nuclear transport process. This work delineates a noncanonical mechanism for nanomaterial delivery to the nucleus and provides a reporter for the study of nucleus-related pathologies.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Rachel E. Langenbacher
- Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York 10065, United States
- Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York 10065, United States
| | - Prakrit V. Jena
- Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York 10065, United States
| | - Daniel Roxbury
- Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York 10065, United States
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, Rhode Island 02881, United States
| | - Daniel A. Heller
- Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York 10065, United States
- Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York 10065, United States
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24
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Abstract
Secreted reporter proteins are reliable modalities for monitoring of different biological processes, which can be measured longitudinally in conditioned medium of cultured cells or body fluids such as blood and urine, ex vivo. In this chapter, we will explore established secreted reporters and their applications and limitations for monitoring of promoter function. We will also describe both cell-based and blood-based assays for detecting three commonly used reporters: secreted alkaline phosphatase (SEAP ), Gaussia luciferase (Gluc), and Vargula luciferase (Vluc).
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Affiliation(s)
- Ghazal Lashgari
- Experimental Therapeutics and Molecular Imaging Laboratory, Department of Neurology, Neuroscience Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- Program in Neuroscience, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Rami S Kantar
- Experimental Therapeutics and Molecular Imaging Laboratory, Department of Neurology, Neuroscience Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- Program in Neuroscience, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Bakhos A Tannous
- Experimental Therapeutics and Molecular Imaging Laboratory, Department of Neurology, Neuroscience Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
- Program in Neuroscience, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
- Neuroscience Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Building 149, 13th Street, Charlestown, MA, 02129, USA.
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25
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Myburgh E, Ritchie R, Goundry A, O’Neill K, Marchesi F, Devaney E. Attempts to Image the Early Inflammatory Response during Infection with the Lymphatic Filarial Nematode Brugia pahangi in a Mouse Model. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0168602. [PMID: 27992545 PMCID: PMC5161388 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0168602] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2016] [Accepted: 12/02/2016] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Helminth parasites remain a major constraint upon human health and well-being in many parts of the world. Treatment of these infections relies upon a very small number of therapeutics, most of which were originally developed for use in animal health. A lack of high throughput screening systems, together with limitations of available animal models, has restricted the development of novel chemotherapeutics. This is particularly so for filarial nematodes, which are long-lived parasites with a complex cycle of development. In this paper, we describe attempts to visualise the immune response elicited by filarial parasites in infected mice using a non-invasive bioluminescence imaging reagent, luminol, our aim being to determine whether such a model could be developed to discriminate between live and dead worms for in vivo compound screening. We show that while imaging can detect the immune response elicited by early stages of infection with L3, it was unable to detect the presence of adult worms or, indeed, later stages of infection with L3, despite the presence of worms within the lymphatic system of infected animals. In the future, more specific reagents that detect secreted products of adult worms may be required for developing screens based upon live imaging of infected animals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elmarie Myburgh
- Wellcome Trust Centre for Molecular Parasitology, Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom
- * E-mail: (EM); (ED); (FM)
| | - Ryan Ritchie
- Wellcome Trust Centre for Molecular Parasitology, Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom
| | - Amy Goundry
- Wellcome Trust Centre for Molecular Parasitology, Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, College of Medical, Veterinary and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom
| | - Kerry O’Neill
- Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, University of Glasgow, Garscube Estate, Glasgow, United Kingdom
| | - Francesco Marchesi
- School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Glasgow, Garscube Estate, Glasgow
- * E-mail: (EM); (ED); (FM)
| | - Eileen Devaney
- Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, University of Glasgow, Garscube Estate, Glasgow, United Kingdom
- * E-mail: (EM); (ED); (FM)
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26
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Landgraf D, Huh D, Hallacli E, Lindquist S. Scarless Gene Tagging with One-Step Transformation and Two-Step Selection in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Schizosaccharomyces pombe. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0163950. [PMID: 27736907 PMCID: PMC5063382 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0163950] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/15/2016] [Accepted: 09/16/2016] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Gene tagging with fluorescent proteins is commonly applied to investigate the localization and dynamics of proteins in their cellular environment. Ideally, a fluorescent tag is genetically inserted at the endogenous locus at the N- or C- terminus of the gene of interest without disrupting regulatory sequences including the 5’ and 3’ untranslated region (UTR) and without introducing any extraneous unwanted “scar” sequences, which may create unpredictable transcriptional or translational effects. We present a reliable, low-cost, and highly efficient method for the construction of such scarless C-terminal and N-terminal fusions with fluorescent proteins in yeast. The method relies on sequential positive and negative selection and uses an integration cassette with long flanking regions, which is assembled by two-step PCR, to increase the homologous recombination frequency. The method also enables scarless tagging of essential genes with no need for a complementing plasmid. To further ease high-throughput strain construction, we have computationally automated design of the primers, applied the primer design code to all open reading frames (ORFs) of the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae (S. cerevisiae) and the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe (S. pombe), and provide here the computed sequences. To illustrate the scarless N- and C-terminal gene tagging methods in S. cerevisiae, we tagged various genes including the E3 ubiquitin ligase RSP5, the proteasome subunit PRE1, and the eleven Rab GTPases with yeast codon-optimized mNeonGreen or mCherry; several of these represent essential genes. We also implemented the scarless C-terminal gene tagging method in the distantly related organism S. pombe using kanMX6 and HSV1tk as positive and negative selection markers, respectively, as well as ura4. The scarless gene tagging methods presented here are widely applicable to visualize and investigate the functional roles of proteins in living cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dirk Landgraf
- Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Dann Huh
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Erinc Hallacli
- Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
| | - Susan Lindquist
- Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
- Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America
- * E-mail:
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27
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Abstract
Genetically encoded fluorescent Zn(2+) indicators (GEZIs) are highly attractive research tools for studying Zn(2+) homeostasis and signaling in mammalian cells. Most current GEZIs are based on Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) between a select pair of fluorescent proteins (FPs) fused with Zn(2+)-binding motifs. One drawback of such FRET-based GEZIs is their broad spectral profile bandwidths, creating challenges when monitoring multiple targets or parameters. To address this issue, we have engineered a group of intensiometric GEZIs based on single teal and red FPs that can be utilized to monitor subcellular Zn(2+) diffusion and glucose-induced Zn(2+) secretion in pancreatic INS-1E β-cells. These GEZIs offer the simplicity of intensiometric measurements, compatibility in multicolor imaging, large dynamic ranges, and relatively small molecular sizes, making them valuable additions to the molecular toolbox for imaging Zn(2+).
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhijie Chen
- Department of Chemistry, University of California-Riverside, 501 Big Springs Road, Riverside, California 92521, United States
| | - Hui-wang Ai
- Department of Chemistry, University of California-Riverside, 501 Big Springs Road, Riverside, California 92521, United States
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28
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Latronico T, Depalo N, Valente G, Fanizza E, Laquintana V, Denora N, Fasano A, Striccoli M, Colella M, Agostiano A, Curri ML, Liuzzi GM. Cytotoxicity Study on Luminescent Nanocrystals Containing Phospholipid Micelles in Primary Cultures of Rat Astrocytes. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0153451. [PMID: 27097043 PMCID: PMC4838222 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0153451] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2015] [Accepted: 03/30/2016] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Luminescent colloidal nanocrystals (NCs) are emerging as a new tool in neuroscience field, representing superior optical probes for cellular imaging and medical diagnosis of neurological disorders with respect to organic fluorophores. However, only a limited number of studies have, so far, explored NC applications in primary neurons, glia and related cells. Indeed astrocytes, as resident cells in the central nervous system (CNS), play an important pathogenic role in several neurodegenerative and neuroinflammatory diseases, therefore enhanced imaging tools for their thorough investigation are strongly amenable. Here, a comprehensive and systematic study on the in vitro toxicological effect of core-shell type luminescent CdSe@ZnS NCs incorporated in polyethylene glycol (PEG) terminated phospholipid micelles on primary cultures of rat astrocytes was carried out. Cytotoxicity response of empty micelles based on PEG modified phospholipids was compared to that of their NC containing counterpart, in order to investigate the effect on cell viability of both inorganic NCs and micelles protecting NC surface. Furthermore, since the surface charge and chemistry influence cell interaction and toxicity, effect of two different functional groups terminating PEG-modified phospholipid micelles, namely amine and carboxyl group, respectively, was evaluated against bare micelles, showing that carboxyl group was less toxic. The ability of PEG-lipid micelles to be internalized into the cells was qualitatively and quantitatively assessed by fluorescence microscopy and photoluminescence (PL) assay. The results of the experiments clearly demonstrate that, once incorporated into the micelles, a low, not toxic, concentration of NCs is sufficient to be distinctly detected within cells. The overall study provides essential indications to define the optimal experimental conditions to effectively and profitably use the proposed luminescent colloidal NCs as optical probe for future in vivo experiments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tiziana Latronico
- Dipartimento di Bioscienze, Biotecnologie e Biofarmaceutica, Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy
| | - Nicoletta Depalo
- Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto per i Processi Chimico-Fisici, Bari, Italy c/o Dipartimento di Chimica, Università di Bari, Bari, Italy
| | - Gianpiero Valente
- Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto per i Processi Chimico-Fisici, Bari, Italy c/o Dipartimento di Chimica, Università di Bari, Bari, Italy
- Dipartimento di Chimica, Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy
| | - Elisabetta Fanizza
- Dipartimento di Chimica, Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy
| | - Valentino Laquintana
- Dipartimento di Farmacia – Scienze del Farmaco, Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy
| | - Nunzio Denora
- Dipartimento di Farmacia – Scienze del Farmaco, Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy
| | - Anna Fasano
- Dipartimento di Bioscienze, Biotecnologie e Biofarmaceutica, Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy
| | - Marinella Striccoli
- Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto per i Processi Chimico-Fisici, Bari, Italy c/o Dipartimento di Chimica, Università di Bari, Bari, Italy
| | - Matilde Colella
- Dipartimento di Bioscienze, Biotecnologie e Biofarmaceutica, Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy
| | - Angela Agostiano
- Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto per i Processi Chimico-Fisici, Bari, Italy c/o Dipartimento di Chimica, Università di Bari, Bari, Italy
- Dipartimento di Chimica, Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy
| | - M. Lucia Curri
- Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Istituto per i Processi Chimico-Fisici, Bari, Italy c/o Dipartimento di Chimica, Università di Bari, Bari, Italy
- * E-mail:
| | - Grazia Maria Liuzzi
- Dipartimento di Bioscienze, Biotecnologie e Biofarmaceutica, Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy
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29
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Huang H, Zhang P, Qiu K, Huang J, Chen Y, Ji L, Chao H. Mitochondrial Dynamics Tracking with Two-Photon Phosphorescent Terpyridyl Iridium(III) Complexes. Sci Rep 2016; 6:20887. [PMID: 26864567 PMCID: PMC4750043 DOI: 10.1038/srep20887] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2015] [Accepted: 01/13/2016] [Indexed: 01/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Mitochondrial dynamics, including fission and fusion, control the morphology and function of mitochondria, and disruption of mitochondrial dynamics leads to Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, metabolic diseases, and cancers. Currently, many types of commercial mitochondria probes are available, but high excitation energy and low photo-stability render them unsuitable for tracking mitochondrial dynamics in living cells. Therefore, mitochondrial targeting agents that exhibit superior anti-photo-bleaching ability, deep tissue penetration and intrinsically high three-dimensional resolutions are urgently needed. Two-photon-excited compounds that use low-energy near-infrared excitation lasers have emerged as non-invasive tools for cell imaging. In this work, terpyridyl cyclometalated Ir(III) complexes (Ir1-Ir3) are demonstrated as one- and two-photon phosphorescent probes for real-time imaging and tracking of mitochondrial morphology changes in living cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Huaiyi Huang
- MOE Key Laboratory of Bioinorganic and Synthetic Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, P. R. China
| | - Pingyu Zhang
- MOE Key Laboratory of Bioinorganic and Synthetic Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, P. R. China
| | - Kangqiang Qiu
- MOE Key Laboratory of Bioinorganic and Synthetic Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, P. R. China
| | - Juanjuan Huang
- MOE Key Laboratory of Bioinorganic and Synthetic Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, P. R. China
| | - Yu Chen
- MOE Key Laboratory of Bioinorganic and Synthetic Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, P. R. China
| | - Liangnian Ji
- MOE Key Laboratory of Bioinorganic and Synthetic Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, P. R. China
| | - Hui Chao
- MOE Key Laboratory of Bioinorganic and Synthetic Chemistry, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, P. R. China
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30
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Heymann MC, Rabe S, Ruß S, Kapplusch F, Schulze F, Stein R, Winkler S, Hedrich CM, Rösen-Wolff A, Hofmann SR. Fluorescent tags influence the enzymatic activity and subcellular localization of procaspase-1. Clin Immunol 2015; 160:172-9. [PMID: 26025004 DOI: 10.1016/j.clim.2015.05.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/22/2014] [Revised: 05/12/2015] [Accepted: 05/14/2015] [Indexed: 01/22/2023]
Abstract
Subcellular localization studies and life cell imaging approaches usually benefit from fusion-reporter proteins, such as enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) and mCherry to the proteins of interest. However, such manipulations have several risks, including protein misfolding, altered protein shuttling, or functional impairment when compared to the wild-type proteins. Here, we demonstrate altered subcellular distribution and function of the pro-inflammatory enzyme procaspase-1 as a result of fusion with the reporter protein mCherry. Our observations are of central importance to further investigations of subcellular behavior and possible protein-protein interactions of naturally occurring genetic variants of human procaspase-1 which have recently been linked to autoinflammatory disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael C Heymann
- Department of Pediatrics, Medizinische Fakultät Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Sabrina Rabe
- Department of Pediatrics, Medizinische Fakultät Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Susanne Ruß
- Department of Pediatrics, Medizinische Fakultät Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Franz Kapplusch
- Department of Pediatrics, Medizinische Fakultät Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Felix Schulze
- Department of Pediatrics, Medizinische Fakultät Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Robert Stein
- Department of Pediatrics, Medizinische Fakultät Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Stefan Winkler
- Department of Pediatrics, Medizinische Fakultät Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Christian M Hedrich
- Department of Pediatrics, Medizinische Fakultät Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Angela Rösen-Wolff
- Department of Pediatrics, Medizinische Fakultät Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Sigrun R Hofmann
- Department of Pediatrics, Medizinische Fakultät Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
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31
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Francis WR, Shaner NC, Christianson LM, Powers ML, Haddock SHD. Occurrence of Isopenicillin-N-Synthase Homologs in Bioluminescent Ctenophores and Implications for Coelenterazine Biosynthesis. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0128742. [PMID: 26125183 PMCID: PMC4488382 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0128742] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/06/2014] [Accepted: 05/01/2015] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
The biosynthesis of the luciferin coelenterazine has remained a mystery for decades. While not all organisms that use coelenterazine appear to make it themselves, it is thought that ctenophores are a likely producer. Here we analyze the transcriptome data of 24 species of ctenophores, two of which have published genomes. The natural precursors of coelenterazine have been shown to be the amino acids L-tyrosine and L-phenylalanine, with the most likely biosynthetic pathway involving cyclization and further modification of the tripeptide Phe-Tyr-Tyr ("FYY"). Therefore, we searched the ctenophore transcriptome data for genes with the short peptide "FYY" as part of their coding sequence. We recovered a group of candidate genes for coelenterazine biosynthesis in the luminous species which encode a set of highly conserved non-heme iron oxidases similar to isopenicillin-N-synthase. These genes were absent in the transcriptomes and genome of the two non-luminous species. Pairwise identities and substitution rates reveal an unusually high degree of identity even between the most unrelated species. Additionally, two related groups of non-heme iron oxidases were found across all ctenophores, including those which are non-luminous, arguing against the involvement of these two gene groups in luminescence. Important residues for iron-binding are conserved across all proteins in the three groups, suggesting this function is still present. Given the known functions of other members of this protein superfamily are involved in heterocycle formation, we consider these genes to be top candidates for laboratory characterization or gene knockouts in the investigation of coelenterazine biosynthesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Warren R. Francis
- Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, 7700 Sandholdt Rd, Moss Landing, CA 95039, United States of America
- Department of Ocean Sciences, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, United States of America
| | - Nathan C. Shaner
- The Scintillon Institute, 6404 Nancy Ridge Dr., San Diego, CA 92121, United States of America
| | - Lynne M. Christianson
- Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, 7700 Sandholdt Rd, Moss Landing, CA 95039, United States of America
| | - Meghan L. Powers
- Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, 7700 Sandholdt Rd, Moss Landing, CA 95039, United States of America
| | - Steven H. D. Haddock
- Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, 7700 Sandholdt Rd, Moss Landing, CA 95039, United States of America
- * E-mail:
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32
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Wang W, Chen SW, Zhu J, Zuo S, Ma YY, Chen ZY, Zhang JL, Chen GW, Liu YC, Wang PY. Intestinal alkaline phosphatase inhibits the translocation of bacteria of gut-origin in mice with peritonitis: mechanism of action. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0124835. [PMID: 25946026 PMCID: PMC4422672 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0124835] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2014] [Accepted: 03/19/2015] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Exogenous intestinal alkaline phosphatase (IAP), an enzyme produced endogenously at the brush edge of the intestinal mucosa, may mitigate the increase in aberrant intestinal permeability increased during sepsis. The aim of this study was to test the efficacy of the inhibitory effect of IAP on acute intestinal inflammation and to study the molecular mechanisms underlying IAP in ameliorating intestinal permeability. We used an in vivo imaging method to evaluate disease status and the curative effect of IAP. Two Escherichia coli (E.coli) B21 strains, carrying EGFP labeled enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) and RFP labeled red fluorescent protein (RFP), were constructed as tracer bacteria and were administered orally to C57/B6N mice to generate an injection peritonitis (IP) model. The IP model was established by injecting inflammatory lavage fluid. C57/B6N mice bearing the tracer bacteria were subsequently treated with (IP+IAP group), or without IAP (IP group). IAP was administered to the mice via tail vein injections. The amount of tracer bacteria in the blood, liver, and lungs at 24 h post-injection was analyzed via flow cytometry (FCM), in vivo imaging, and Western blotting. Intestinal barrier function was measured using a flux assay with the macro-molecule fluorescein isothiocyanate dextran, molecular weight 40kD, (FD40). To elucidate the molecular mechanism underlying the effects of IAP, we examined the levels of ERK phosphorylation, and the expression levels of proteins in the ERK-SP1-VEGF and ERK-Cdx-2-Claudin-2 pathways. We observed that IAP inhibited the expression of Claudin-2, a type of cation channel-forming protein, and VEGF, a cytokine that may increase intestinal permeability by reducing the levels of dephosphorylated ERK. In conclusion, exogenous IAP shows a therapeutic effect in an injection peritonitis model. This including inhibition of bacterial translocation. Moreover, we have established an imaging methodology for live-animals can effectively evaluate intestinal permeability and aberrant bacterial translocation in IP models.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wei Wang
- Department of Surgery, Peking University First Hospital, Xi Shi Ku Street, Beijing, China
| | - Shan-Wen Chen
- Department of Surgery, Peking University First Hospital, Xi Shi Ku Street, Beijing, China
| | - Jing Zhu
- Department of Surgery, Peking University First Hospital, Xi Shi Ku Street, Beijing, China
| | - Shuai Zuo
- Department of Surgery, Peking University First Hospital, Xi Shi Ku Street, Beijing, China
| | - Yuan-Yuan Ma
- Experimental Animal Center, Peking University First Hospital, Xi Shi Ku Street, Beijing, China
| | - Zi-Yi Chen
- Department of Surgery, Peking University First Hospital, Xi Shi Ku Street, Beijing, China
| | - Jun-Ling Zhang
- Department of Surgery, Peking University First Hospital, Xi Shi Ku Street, Beijing, China
| | - Guo-Wei Chen
- Department of Surgery, Peking University First Hospital, Xi Shi Ku Street, Beijing, China
| | - Yu-Cun Liu
- Department of Surgery, Peking University First Hospital, Xi Shi Ku Street, Beijing, China
| | - Peng-Yuan Wang
- Department of Surgery, Peking University First Hospital, Xi Shi Ku Street, Beijing, China
- * E-mail:
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33
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Zeng Y, Liu Y, Shang J, Ma J, Wang R, Deng L, Guo Y, Zhong F, Bai M, Zhang S, Wu D. Phosphorescence monitoring of hypoxic microenvironment in solid-tumors to evaluate chemotherapeutic effects using the hypoxia-sensitive iridium (III) coordination compound. PLoS One 2015; 10:e0121293. [PMID: 25786221 PMCID: PMC4365010 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0121293] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/03/2014] [Accepted: 01/29/2015] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Objectives To utilize phosphorescence to monitor hypoxic microenvironment in solid-tumors and investigate cancer chemotherapeutic effects in vivo. Methods A hypoxia-sensitive probe named BTP was used to monitor hypoxic microenvironment in solid-tumors. The low-dose metronomic treatment with cisplatin was used in anti-angiogenetic chemotherapeutic programs. The phosphorescence properties of BTP were detected by a spectrofluorometer. BTP cytotoxicity utilized cell necrosis and apoptosis, which were evaluated by trypan blue dye exclusion and Hoechst33342 plus propidium iodide assays. Tumor-bearing mouse models of colon adenocarcinoma were used for tumor imaging in vivo. Monitoring of the hypoxic microenvironment in tumors was performed with a Maestro 2 fluorescence imaging system. Tumor tissues in each group were harvested regularly and treated with pathological hematoxylin and eosin and immunohistochemical staining to confirm imaging results. Results BTP did not feature obvious cytotoxicity for cells, and tumor growth in low-dose metronomic cisplatin treated mice was significantly inhibited by chemotherapy. Hypoxic levels significantly increased due to cisplatin, as proven by the expression level of related proteins. Phosphorescence intensity in the tumors of mice in the cisplatin group was stronger and showed higher contrast than that in tumors of saline treated mice.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yun Zeng
- The Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Engineering, Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, P. R. China
| | - Yang Liu
- School of Life Sciences and Institutes of Biomedical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, P. R. China
| | - Jin Shang
- Radiology Department, First Affiliated Hospital, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, P. R. China
| | - Jingwen Ma
- The Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Engineering, Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, P. R. China
| | - Rong Wang
- Radiology Department, First Affiliated Hospital, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, P. R. China
| | - Lei Deng
- Radiology Department, First Affiliated Hospital, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, P. R. China
| | - Youmin Guo
- Radiology Department, First Affiliated Hospital, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, P. R. China
| | - Fan Zhong
- School of Life Sciences and Institutes of Biomedical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, P. R. China
| | - Mingfeng Bai
- Molecular Imaging Laboratory, Department of Radiology, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America
| | - Shaojuan Zhang
- Radiology Department, First Affiliated Hospital, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, P. R. China
- Molecular Imaging Laboratory, Department of Radiology, School of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America
- * E-mail: (SZ); (DW)
| | - Daocheng Wu
- The Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Engineering, Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, P. R. China
- * E-mail: (SZ); (DW)
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34
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Bürgi S, Seuwen A, Keist R, Vom Berg J, Grandjean J, Rudin M. In vivo imaging of hypoxia-inducible factor regulation in a subcutaneous and orthotopic GL261 glioma tumor model using a reporter gene assay. Mol Imaging 2015; 13. [PMID: 25248521 DOI: 10.2310/7290.2014.00029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Intratumoral hypoxia changes the metabolism of gliomas, leading to a more aggressive phenotype with increased resistance to radio- and chemotherapy. Hypoxia triggers a signaling cascade with hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) as a key regulator. We monitored activation of the HIF pathway longitudinally in murine glioma tumors. GL261 cells, stably transfected with a luciferase reporter driven under the control of a promoter comprising the HIF target gene motive hypoxia response element, were implanted either subcutaneously or orthotopically. In vivo experiments were carried out using bioluminescence imaging. Tumors were subsequently analyzed using immunofluorescence staining for hypoxia, endothelial cells, tumor perfusion, and glucose transporter expression. Transient upregulation of the HIF signaling was observed in both subcutaneous and orthotopic gliomas. Immunofluorescence staining confirmed hypoxic regions in subcutaneous and, to a lesser extent, intracranial tumors. Subcutaneous tumors showed substantial necrosis, which might contribute to the decreased bioluminescence output observed toward the end of the experiment. Orthotopic tumors were less hypoxic than subcutaneous ones and did not develop extensive necrotic areas. Although this may be the result of the overall smaller size of orthotopic tumors, it might also reflect differences in the local environment, such as the better intrinsic vascularization of brain tissue compared to the subcutaneous tissue compartment.
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35
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Pitman DJ, Banerjee S, Macari SJ, Castaldi CA, Crone DE, Bystroff C. Exploring the folding pathway of green fluorescent protein through disulfide engineering. Protein Sci 2015; 24:341-53. [PMID: 25516354 PMCID: PMC4353360 DOI: 10.1002/pro.2621] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2014] [Accepted: 12/09/2014] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Abstract
We have introduced two disulfide crosslinks into the loop regions on opposite ends of the beta barrel in superfolder green fluorescent protein (GFP) in order to better understand the nature of its folding pathway. When the disulfide on the side opposite the N/C-termini is formed, folding is 2× faster, unfolding is 2000× slower, and the protein is stabilized by 16 kJ/mol. But when the disulfide bond on the side of the termini is formed we see little change in the kinetics and stability. The stabilization upon combining the two crosslinks is approximately additive. When the kinetic effects are broken down into multiple phases, we observe Hammond behavior in the upward shift of the kinetic m-value of unfolding. We use these results in conjunction with structural analysis to assign folding intermediates to two parallel folding pathways. The data are consistent with a view that the two fastest transition states of folding are "barrel closing" steps. The slower of the two phases passes through an intermediate with the barrel opening occurring between strands 7 and 8, while the faster phase opens between 9 and 4. We conclude that disulfide crosslink-induced perturbations in kinetics are useful for mapping the protein folding pathway.
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Affiliation(s)
- Derek J Pitman
- Department of Biological Sciences, Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies
| | - Shounak Banerjee
- Department of Biological Sciences, Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies
| | - Stephen J Macari
- Department of Biological Sciences, Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies
| | - Christopher A Castaldi
- Department of Biological Sciences, Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies
| | - Donna E Crone
- Department of Biological Sciences, Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies
| | - Christopher Bystroff
- Department of Biological Sciences, Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies
- Department of Computer Science, Rensselaer Polytechnic InstituteTroy, New York
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36
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Abstract
Bioluminescence imaging with luciferase-luciferin pairs is a popular method for visualizing biological processes in vivo. Unfortunately, most luciferins are difficult to access and remain prohibitively expensive for some imaging applications. Here we report cost-effective and efficient syntheses of d-luciferin and 6'-aminoluciferin, two widely used bioluminescent substrates. Our approach employs inexpensive anilines and Appel's salt to generate the luciferin cores in a single pot. Additionally, the syntheses are scalable and can provide multi-gram quantities of both substrates. The streamlined production and improved accessibility of luciferin reagents will bolster in vivo imaging efforts.
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Abstract
Significant progress has been made in the development of chemical biology methods used to study the molecular behavior and interplay among live cells. These include the development of novel fluorescent molecules and photo-cross-linking agents that can be used to determine the cellular locations of biomacromolecules (including proteins and nucleic acids). Various biosensors utilizing the remarkable ligand-recognition abilities of biomacromolecules have also been developed. To allow such chemically functionalized molecules to interact with their partners, and to fully exploit the abilities and functions thereof, it is necessary to efficiently deliver such molecules into cells, specifically into the cytosol. Here, we illustrate intracellular delivery methods employing arginine-rich cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) (e.g., octa-arginine) in the presence of a counteranion, pyrenebutyrate. This approach is especially suitable for intracellular delivery of small proteins and peptides. Approaches employing arginine-rich CPPs tagged with a penetration-accelerating sequence can also be used toward this end.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ikuhiko Nakase
- Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Research Center, Research Organization for the 21st Century, Osaka Prefecture University, Osaka, Japan
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38
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Kotova VI, Mironov AS, Zavigel'skiĭ GB. [Role of reactive oxygen species in the bactericidal action of quinolones--inhibitors of DNA gyrase]. Mol Biol (Mosk) 2014; 48:990-998. [PMID: 25845240] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/04/2023]
Abstract
Quinolone antibiotics inhibit DNA gyrase, but the induced degradation of chromosomal DNA is determined by a complex process of joint action quinolones and hydroxyl radical OH'. To quantify the level of stress responses and their time dependence in bacterial cells the induced specific lux-biosensors--the bacterium Escherichia coli, containing hybrid plasmids pColD'::lux; pSoxS'::lux; pKatG'::lux were used in this study. It is shown that quinolones (nalidixic acid, norfloxacin) induce SOS-response and oxidative stress with the formation of superoxide anion O2(-) in E. coli cells. The main parameters of SOS-response and oxidative stress, which depend on the quinolone concentration, are determined. Formation of superoxide anion O2(-) occurs almost simultaneously with the SOS-response. The mutant strain of E. coli sodA sodB, which do not contain active forms of superoxide dismutases SodA and SodB, is characterized by an increased resistance to quinolones as compared to the wild type cells. At high concentrations of quinolones (nalidixic acid-->20 μg/mL; norfloxacin-->500 ng/mL) their bactericidal effect is partially caused by conversion of the superoxide anion to hydrogen peroxide H2O2, conducted by superoxide dismutases SodA and SodB, which is followed by the Fenton reaction and the formation of toxic hydroxyl radical OH'. At low concentrations of quinolones (nalidixic acid--<20 μg/mL; norfloxacin--<500 ng/mL), the role of active oxygen species in the antimicrobial effect is practically nonexistent.
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Abstract
MafA and MafB are basic leucine zipper transcription factors expressed in mature pancreatic β- and α-cells, respectively. MafA is not only an insulin gene transcription factor but is also critical for the maturation and maintenance of β-cell function, whereas MafB is expressed in immature β-cells during development and in compromised β-cells in diabetes. In this study, we developed a mouse model to easily trace the promoter activity of MafA in β-cells as a tool for studying β-cell differentiation, maturation, regeneration and function using the expression of the fluorescent protein Kusabira Orange (KOr) driven by the BAC-mafA promoter. The expression of KOr was highly restricted to β-cells in the transgenic pancreas. By crossing MafA-KOr mice with MafB(GFP/+) reporter mice, simultaneous monitoring of MafA and MafB expressions in the isolated islets was successfully performed. This system can be a useful tool for examining dynamic changes in the differentiation and function of pancreatic islets by visualizing the expressions of MafA and MafB.
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MESH Headings
- Animals
- Biomarkers/metabolism
- Cell Differentiation
- Crosses, Genetic
- Embryo, Mammalian/cytology
- Embryo, Mammalian/metabolism
- Gene Expression Regulation
- Genes, Reporter
- Green Fluorescent Proteins/genetics
- Green Fluorescent Proteins/metabolism
- Insulin/blood
- Insulin/metabolism
- Insulin Secretion
- Insulin-Secreting Cells/cytology
- Insulin-Secreting Cells/metabolism
- Luminescent Agents/metabolism
- Luminescent Proteins/genetics
- Luminescent Proteins/metabolism
- Maf Transcription Factors, Large/genetics
- Maf Transcription Factors, Large/metabolism
- MafB Transcription Factor/genetics
- MafB Transcription Factor/metabolism
- Male
- Mice, Inbred C57BL
- Mice, Knockout
- Mice, Transgenic
- Organ Specificity
- Promoter Regions, Genetic
- Recombinant Proteins/metabolism
- Tissue Culture Techniques
- Red Fluorescent Protein
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Affiliation(s)
- Wataru Nishimura
- Department of Metabolic Disorders, Diabetes Research Center, Research Institute, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Tokyo 162-8655, Japan
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40
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Yang H, Krebs M, Stierhof YD, Ludewig U. Characterization of the putative amino acid transporter genes AtCAT2, 3 &4: the tonoplast localized AtCAT2 regulates soluble leaf amino acids. J Plant Physiol 2014; 171:594-601. [PMID: 24709150 DOI: 10.1016/j.jplph.2013.11.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/08/2013] [Revised: 11/26/2013] [Accepted: 11/26/2013] [Indexed: 05/03/2023]
Abstract
The plant vacuole constitutes a large transient storage compartment for nutrients, proteins and metabolites, and is a major cellular sink for toxic waste compounds. Amino acids can cross the vacuolar membrane via specific transport proteins, which are molecularly not well characterized. Two members of a small subfamily of the cationic amino acid transporters, AtCAT2 and AtCAT4, were primarily localized at the tonoplast when tagged with GFP. The closely related AtCAT3, by contrast, was detected in the endoplasmic reticulum membrane. The exchange of a di-acidic motif at the carboxy-tail affected their sub-cellular localization, with larger effects visible in transiently transformed protoplasts compared to stably expressing plant lines. The genes have broad, partially overlapping tissue expression, with CAT2 dominating in most tissues. Loss-of-function mutants of individual CATs showed no visible phenotype under various conditions, but the overall tissue concentration of amino acids was increased in soil-grown cat2 mutants. The data suggest that CAT2 is a critical target of leaf amino acid concentrations and manipulation of this tonoplast transporter can significantly alter total tissue amino acid concentrations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Huaiyu Yang
- Institute of Crop Science, Nutritional Crop Physiology, University of Hohenheim, Fruwirthstr. 20, 70593 Stuttgart, Germany; Center for Molecular Biology of Plants (ZMBP), Microscopy Unit, University of Tübingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 5, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Melanie Krebs
- Center for Molecular Biology of Plants (ZMBP), Microscopy Unit, University of Tübingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 5, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
| | - York-Dieter Stierhof
- Center for Molecular Biology of Plants (ZMBP), Microscopy Unit, University of Tübingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 5, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
| | - Uwe Ludewig
- Institute of Crop Science, Nutritional Crop Physiology, University of Hohenheim, Fruwirthstr. 20, 70593 Stuttgart, Germany; Center for Molecular Biology of Plants (ZMBP), Microscopy Unit, University of Tübingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 5, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.
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41
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Liochev SI. Free radicals: how do we stand them? Anaerobic and aerobic free radical (chain) reactions involved in the use of fluorogenic probes and in biological systems. Med Princ Pract 2014; 23:195-203. [PMID: 24356000 PMCID: PMC5586870 DOI: 10.1159/000357120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2013] [Accepted: 11/07/2013] [Indexed: 01/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Biologically significant conclusions have been based on the use of fluorogenic and luminogenic probes for the detection of reactive species. The basic mechanisms of the processes involved have not been satisfactorily elucidated. In the present work, the mechanism of the enzyme and photosensitized oxidation of NAD(P)H by resorufin is analyzed and appears to involve both aerobic and anaerobic free radical chain reactions. There are two major fallouts of this analysis. Many of the conclusions about the participation of radicals based on the use of probes such as resorufin and Amplex red need reevaluation. It is also concluded that anaerobic free radical reactions may be biologically significant, and the possible existence of enzymatic systems to eliminate certain free radicals is discussed.
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Abstract
The plasma membrane of living cells is an interface of material transfers and an antenna for outer signals. This chapter provides a guide on how to fabricate bioluminescent capsules for illuminating intracellular signaling and cargo protein delivery. The capsule consists of four components, which are, in consecutive order: a secretion peptide (SP), a host luciferase body (leader), a guest protein or peptide (cargo), and a membrane localization signal (MLS). Any guest protein, including a luciferase or a fluorescent protein, may be sandwiched between the host luciferase body and MLS and may be deliverable to the plasma membrane (PM), where the capsule waits for outer signals and to quickly release the embedded luciferase in response to a specific signal. The present strategy provides an efficient molecular vehicle for cargo proteins and imaging of intracellular molecular events in living cells without substrate-derived demerits of luciferases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sung Bae Kim
- Research Institute for Environmental Management Technology, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Japan
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43
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Dmitriev IP, Kashentseva EA, Kim KH, Matthews QL, Krieger SS, Parry JJ, Nguyen KN, Akers WJ, Achilefu S, Rogers BE, Alvarez RD, Curiel DT. Monitoring of biodistribution and persistence of conditionally replicative adenovirus in a murine model of ovarian cancer using capsid-incorporated mCherry and expression of human somatostatin receptor subtype 2 gene. Mol Imaging 2014; 13:7290.2014.00024. [PMID: 25249483 DOI: 10.2310/7290.2014.00024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/16/2023] Open
Abstract
A significant limiting factor to the human clinical application of conditionally replicative adenovirus (CRAd)-based virotherapy is the inability to noninvasively monitor these agents and their potential persistence. To address this issue, we proposed a novel imaging approach that combines transient expression of the human somatostatin receptor (SSTR) subtype 2 reporter gene with genetic labeling of the viral capsid with mCherry fluorescent protein. To test this dual modality system, we constructed the Ad5/3Δ24pIXcherry/SSTR CRAd and validated its capacity to generate fluorescent and nuclear signals in vitro and following intratumoral injection. Analysis of 64Cu-CB-TE2A-Y3-TATE biodistribution in mice revealed reduced uptake in tumors injected with the imaging CRAd relative to the replication-incompetent, Ad-expressing SSTR2 but significantly greater uptake compared to the negative CRAd control. Optical imaging demonstrated relative correlation of fluorescent signal with virus replication as determined by viral genome quantification in tumors. Positron emission tomography/computed tomography studies demonstrated that we can visualize radioactive uptake in tumors injected with imaging CRAd and the trend for greater uptake by standardized uptake value analysis compared to control CRAd. In the aggregate, the plasticity of our dual imaging approach should provide the technical basis for monitoring CRAd biodistribution and persistence in preclinical studies while offering potential utility for a range of clinical applications.
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Abstract
Over the last three decades, imaging has been a thriving field with continuous egression of more reliable and highly sophisticated tools and techniques allowing better understanding of biological processes in living organisms. This field continues to expand and its applications broaden to encompass limitless applications in various biomedical research areas. It is however, of utmost importance to understand the capabilities and limitations of this technique as new challenges and hurdles continue to arise. This chapter describes the general properties of bioluminescence imaging and commonly used reporters while underlining the challenges and limitations with these modalities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christian E Badr
- Experimental Therapeutics and Molecular Imaging Laboratory, Department of Neurology, Neuroscience Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
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Abstract
Genetically encoded indicators are valuable tools to study intracellular signaling cascades in real time using fluorescent or bioluminescent imaging techniques. Imaging of Ca(2+) indicators is widely used to record transient intracellular Ca(2+) increases associated with bioelectrical activity. The natural bioluminescent Ca(2+) sensor aequorin has been historically the first Ca(2+) indicator used to address biological questions. Aequorin imaging offers several advantages over fluorescent reporters: it is virtually devoid of background signal; it does not require light excitation and interferes little with intracellular processes. Genetically encoded sensors such as aequorin are commonly used in dissociated cultured cells; however it becomes more challenging to express them in differentiated intact specimen such as brain tissue. Here we describe a method to express a GFP-aequorin (GA) fusion protein in pyramidal cells of neocortical acute slices using recombinant Sindbis virus. This technique allows expressing GA in several hundreds of neurons on the same slice and to perform the bioluminescence recording of Ca(2+) transients in single neurons or multiple neurons simultaneously.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ludovic Tricoire
- Neurobiologie des processus adaptatifs, UMR7102, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France
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Abstract
Notch signaling depends on regulated intracellular trafficking of the receptor and its ligands (Kopan and Ilagan, Cell 137:216-233, 2009; Le Borgne et al., Development 132:1751-1762, 2005). Here we describe two methods to study the intracellular trafficking of Notch and Delta in Drosophila. First, an ex vivo antibody uptake assay is used to monitor endocytosis of Notch and Delta by living cells in dissected explants (Le Borgne and Schweisguth, Dev Cell 5:139-148, 2003). Second, real-time imaging of fluorescent proteins that are expressed at physiological levels is used to study trafficking of Notch in living flies (Venken et al., Science 314:1747-1751, 2006; Couturier et al., Nat Cell Biol 14, 131-139, 2012).
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Affiliation(s)
- Lydie Couturier
- Département de Biologie du Développement, Unité de Génétique du Développement de la Drosophile, Institut Pasteur and CNRS, 25 rue du Dr Roux, 75015, Paris, France
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Sasaki S, Yamada S, Iwamura M, Kobayashi Y. Specific detection of intramitochondrial superoxide produced by either cell activation or apoptosis by employing a newly developed cell-permeative lucigenin derivative, 10,10'-dimethyl-9,9'-biacridinium bis(monomethyl terephthalate). Free Radic Biol Med 2013; 65:1005-1011. [PMID: 23994770 DOI: 10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2013.08.175] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2013] [Revised: 08/20/2013] [Accepted: 08/22/2013] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
Here we developed a new cell-permeative lucigenin derivative, 10,10'-dimethyl-9,9'-biacridinium bis(monomethyl terephthalate) (MMT), to detect intracellular superoxide production. Both MMT and lucigenin were specific to superoxide among reactive oxygen species tested. Although lucigenin barely penetrated into cells, MMT accumulated in mitochondria in a variety of cells such as neutrophils. By employing MMT, we found that, upon activation of neutrophils with phorbol myristate acetate, superoxide was generated extracellularly as well as intramitochondrially and that such intramitochondrial superoxide production was dependent on oxidative phosphorylation. We also found that, during apoptosis, superoxide was gradually produced in mitochondria in association with phosphatidylserine exposure and that the kinetics of superoxide production was very heterogeneous at the single-cell level. Thus this study demonstrates that MMT could serve as a specific probe for intramitochondrial superoxide in either activated or apoptotic cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Soichiro Sasaki
- Division of Molecular Medicine Faculty of Science, Toho University, Funabashi, Chiba 274-8510, Japan
| | - Sachiko Yamada
- Division of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Toho University, Funabashi, Chiba 274-8510, Japan
| | - Michiko Iwamura
- Division of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Toho University, Funabashi, Chiba 274-8510, Japan
| | - Yoshiro Kobayashi
- Division of Molecular Medicine Faculty of Science, Toho University, Funabashi, Chiba 274-8510, Japan.
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Liu J, Yu M, Ning X, Zhou C, Yang S, Zheng J. PEGylation and zwitterionization: pros and cons in the renal clearance and tumor targeting of near-IR-emitting gold nanoparticles. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2013. [PMID: 24123783 DOI: 10.1021/nl061786n.core-shell] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/13/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Jinbin Liu
- Department of Chemistry, The University of Texas at Dallas, 800 W. Campbell Rd. Richardson, Texas, 75080 (USA) http://www.utdallas.edu/∼jiezheng
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Liu J, Yu M, Ning X, Zhou C, Yang S, Zheng J. PEGylation and zwitterionization: pros and cons in the renal clearance and tumor targeting of near-IR-emitting gold nanoparticles. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2013; 52:12572-6. [PMID: 24123783 PMCID: PMC4127427 DOI: 10.1002/anie.201304465] [Citation(s) in RCA: 184] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2013] [Revised: 07/31/2013] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Jinbin Liu
- Department of Chemistry, The University of Texas at Dallas, 800 W. Campbell Rd. Richardson, Texas, 75080 (USA)
| | - Mengxiao Yu
- Department of Chemistry, The University of Texas at Dallas, 800 W. Campbell Rd. Richardson, Texas, 75080 (USA)
| | - Xuhui Ning
- Department of Chemistry, The University of Texas at Dallas, 800 W. Campbell Rd. Richardson, Texas, 75080 (USA)
| | - Chen Zhou
- Department of Chemistry, The University of Texas at Dallas, 800 W. Campbell Rd. Richardson, Texas, 75080 (USA)
| | - Shengyang Yang
- Department of Chemistry, The University of Texas at Dallas, 800 W. Campbell Rd. Richardson, Texas, 75080 (USA)
| | - Jie Zheng
- Department of Chemistry, The University of Texas at Dallas, 800 W. Campbell Rd. Richardson, Texas, 75080 (USA)
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Alshetaiwi HS, Balivada S, Shrestha TB, Pyle M, Basel MT, Bossmann SH, Troyer DL. Luminol-based bioluminescence imaging of mouse mammary tumors. J Photochem Photobiol B 2013; 127:223-8. [PMID: 24077442 DOI: 10.1016/j.jphotobiol.2013.08.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/21/2013] [Revised: 08/26/2013] [Accepted: 08/28/2013] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
Polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) are the most abundant circulating blood leukocytes. They are part of the innate immune system and provide a first line of defense by migrating toward areas of inflammation in response to chemical signals released from the site. Some solid tumors, such as breast cancer, also cause recruitment and activation of PMNs and release of myeloperoxidase. In this study, we demonstrate that administration of luminol to mice that have been transplanted with 4T1 mammary tumor cells permits the detection of myeloperoxidase activity, and consequently, the location of the tumor. Luminol allowed detection of activated PMNs only two days after cancer cell transplantation, even though tumors were not yet palpable. In conclusion, luminol-bioluminescence imaging (BLI) can provide a pathway towards detection of solid tumors at an early stage in preclinical tumor models.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hamad S Alshetaiwi
- Department of Anatomy and Physiology, 228 Coles Hall, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA.
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