Issue 3, 2020

Developing substrate-based small molecule fluorescent probes for super-resolution fluorescent imaging of various membrane transporters

Abstract

Super-resolution imaging technology has been a powerful tool for revealing fine biological structures and functions. Its high-quality imaging always needs highly accurate labeling. Here, by exploiting the high specificity and affinity of natural substrates to transporters, we developed one set of substrate-based small molecule fluorescent probes for labeling membrane transporters. A glucose-based probe (Glu-probe) and tyrosine-based probe (Tyr-probe) were synthesized as two examples. Confocal imaging showed that the Glu-probe could label glucose transporters on live cells by being stuck into the binding site. Compared with antibody-probe labeling, the labeling advantages of the Glu-probe were revealed. High specificity of the Glu-probe or Tyr-probe was examined by a colocalization experiment and glucose replacement or amino acid (AA) blocking. The synthetic probes were also tested on imaging HeLa cells to confirm their wide labeling application. Additionally, we found that membrane transporters were mostly in the clustered state on cellular membranes, changing their assembly pattern to regulate the transport effectiveness. These results suggest that the substrate-based probes can serve as valuable tools for investigating the spatial information of membrane transporters.

Graphical abstract: Developing substrate-based small molecule fluorescent probes for super-resolution fluorescent imaging of various membrane transporters

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Communication
Submitted
10 Sep 2019
Accepted
24 Oct 2019
First published
25 Oct 2019

Nanoscale Horiz., 2020,5, 523-529

Developing substrate-based small molecule fluorescent probes for super-resolution fluorescent imaging of various membrane transporters

Q. Wu, M. Cai, J. Gao, T. Zhao, H. Xu, Q. Yan, Y. Jing, Y. Shi, C. Kang, Y. Liu, F. Liang, J. Chen and H. Wang, Nanoscale Horiz., 2020, 5, 523 DOI: 10.1039/C9NH00596J

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