Probing cell membrane integrity using a histone-targeting protein nanocage displaying precisely positioned fluorophores  

作　　者：Ti Fang Chaoqun Li Ao Liang Hui Zhang Fan Zhang Xian-En Zhang Yi-Yu Yang Feng Li 

机构地区：[1]Guangzhou Women and Children’s Medical Center,Guangzhou Medical University,Guangzhou 510120,China [2]State Key Laboratory of Virology,Wuhan Institute of Virology,Center for Biosafety Mega-Science,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Wuhan 430071,China [3]Faculty of Synthetic Biology,Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Shenzhen 518055,China [4]National Laboratory of Biomacromolecules,Institute of Biophysics,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100101,China [5]University of Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100049,China

出　　处：《Nano Research》2023年第1期894-904,共11页纳米研究（英文版）

基　　金：This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.31771103);Chinese Academy of Sciences(CAS)Emergency Project of African Swine Fever(ASF)Research(No.KJZD-SW-L07);the Scientific Instrument Developing Project of the CAS(No.YJKYYQ20190057).

摘　　要：Cell membrane integrity is fundamental to the normal activities of cells and is involved in both acute and chronic pathologies.Here,we report a probe for analyzing cell membrane integrity developed from a 9 nm-sized protein nanocage named Dps via fluorophore conjugation with high spatial precision to avoid self-quenching.The probe cannot enter normal live cells but can accumulate in dead or live cells with damaged membranes,which,interestingly,leads to weak cytoplasmic and strong nuclear staining.This differential staining is found attributed to the high affinity of Dps for histones rather than DNA,providing a staining mechanism different from those of known membrane exclusion probes(MEPs).Moreover,the Dps nanoprobe is larger in size and thus applies a more stringent criterion for identifying severe membrane damage than currently available MEPs.This study shows the potential of Dps as a new bioimaging platform for biological and medical analyses.

关 键 词：protein engineering fluorescent probes nanoparticles cell membrane damage ferritin superfamily 

分 类 号：O657.3[理学—分析化学]