Imaging enzyme-triggered self-assembly of small molecules inside live cells
نویسندگان
چکیده
Self-assembly of small molecules in water to form nanofibres, besides generating sophisticated biomaterials, promises a simple system inside cells for regulating cellular processes. But lack of a convenient approach for studying the self-assembly of small molecules inside cells hinders the development of such systems. Here we report a method to image enzyme-triggered self-assembly of small molecules inside live cells. After linking a fluorophore to a self-assembly motif to make a precursor, we confirmed by (31)P NMR and rheology that enzyme-triggered conversion of the precursor to a hydrogelator results in the formation of a hydrogel via self-assembly. The imaging contrast conferred by the nanofibres of the hydrogelators allowed the evaluation of intracellular self-assembly, the dynamics and the localization of the nanofibres of the hydrogelators in live cells. This approach explores supramolecular chemistry inside cells and may lead to new insights, processes or materials at the interface of chemistry and biology.
منابع مشابه
Imaging self-assembly dependent spatial distribution of small molecules in a cellular environment.
Self-assembly of small molecules, as a more common phenomenon than one previously thought, can be either beneficial or detrimental to cells. Despite its profound biological implications, how the self-assembly of small molecules behave in a cellular environment is largely unknown and barely explored. This work studies four fluorescent molecules that consist of the same peptidic backbone (e.g., P...
متن کاملImaging Self-assembly Dependent Spatial Distribution of Small Molecules in Cellular Environment
Self-assembly of small molecules, as a more common phenomenon than one previously thought, can be either beneficial or detrimental to cells. Despite its profound biological implications, how the self-assembly of small molecules behave in cellular environment is largely unknown and barely explored. This work studies four fluorescent molecules that consist of the same peptidic backbone (e.g., Phe...
متن کاملBioorthogonal Cyclization-Mediated In Situ Self-Assembly of Small Molecule Probes for Imaging Caspase Activity in vivo
Directed self-assembly of small molecules in living systems could enable a myriad of applications in biology and medicine, and already this has been used widely to synthesize supramolecules and nano/microstructures in solution and in living cells. However, controlling the self-assembly of synthetic small molecules in living animals is challenging because of the complex and dynamic in vivo physi...
متن کاملA smart ZnO@polydopamine-nucleic acid nanosystem for ultrasensitive live cell mRNA imaging by the target-triggered intracellular self-assembly of active DNAzyme nanostructures† †Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Oligonucleotide sequences, DLS and zeta potential measurements, TEM images, absorption and fluorescence spectra, cytotoxicity assay and CLSM images. See DOI: 10.1039/c6sc04633a Click here for additional data file.
Efficient strategies for the ultrasensitive imaging of gene expression in living cells are essential in chemistry and cell biology. Here, we report a novel and efficient enzyme-free dual signal amplification strategy for live cell mRNA imaging by using a smart nucleic acid hairpin-based nanosystem. This nanosystem consists of a ZnO nanoparticle core, an interlayer of polydopamine and an outer l...
متن کاملUsing Congo red to report intracellular hydrogelation resulted from self-assembly of small molecules.
This communication reports the use of Congo red to stain the nanofibers of self-assembled small molecules for assaying intracellular supramolecular hydrogels, which provides a convenient method to explore molecular self-assembly inside cells.
متن کامل