Publications by authors named "Mingxu You"

Cellular mechanical dysregulation can lead to diseases and conditions like tumorigenesis. Drug delivery systems that recognize and respond to specific cellular mechanical characteristics are potentially useful for targeted therapy. We report here the creation of a DNA mechanical nanovehicle that is responsive to cell surface receptor-mediated tensile forces, which can then correspondingly deliver an anticancer drug in situ.

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Article Synopsis
  • Cell-generated forces play a crucial role in various cellular processes, and measuring these forces is essential for understanding cell behavior in contexts like migration and cancer development, although existing methods are often complex and require specialized skills.
  • A new smartphone-based electrochemical sensor has been developed, utilizing a DNA-based force probe that can detect cellular forces, enabling the measurement of small forces generated by just a few cells, like HeLa cells, through enhanced electrochemical signals.
  • This innovative sensor is portable, cost-effective, and user-friendly, making it a promising complementary tool to existing techniques for detecting cellular forces in biological research.
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The advancement of nucleic acid nanotechnology has resulted in broad applications of DNA- and RNA-based molecular sensors for bioanalysis. Catalytic hairpin assembly is such a type of programmable and enzyme-free nucleic acid circuit that has been popularly used in developing biosensors. Genetically encodable fluorogenic RNA-based devices have recently gained a lot of attentions as a powerful tool for intracellular imaging.

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RNA molecules play a vital role in linking genetic information with various cellular processes. In recent years, a variety of optogenetic tools have been engineered for regulating cellular RNA metabolism and functions. These highly desirable tools can offer non-intrusive control with spatial precision, remote operation, and biocompatibility.

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Article Synopsis
  • * These nanodevices can be customized and programmed to act as advanced tools in chemical and cell biology, demonstrating significant biomedical potential.
  • * The review discusses recent advancements in the engineering and application of these DNA nanodevices, along with challenges and future directions for their development.
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Although nucleic acids have been widely used as templates for the synthesis of nanomaterials, the synthesis of RNA-templated gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) has not been explored. In this work, we developed a simple strategy for synthesis of RNA-templated fluorescent AuNCs. We first evaluated the adsorption of different nucleoside monophosphates (NMP) on gold atoms.

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Detecting multiple targets in living cells is important in cell biology. However, multiplexed fluorescence imaging beyond two-to-three targets remains a technical challenge. Herein, we introduce a multiplexed imaging strategy, 'sequential Fluorogenic RNA Imaging-Enabled Sensor' (seqFRIES), which enables live-cell target detection via sequential rounds of imaging-and-stripping.

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Cell-generated forces are a key player in cell biology, especially during cellular shape formation, migration, cancer development, and immune response. A new type of label-free smartphone-based electrochemical DNA sensor is developed here for cellular force measurement. When cells apply tension forces to the DNA sensors, the rapid rupture of DNA duplexes allows multiple redox reporters to reach the electrode and generate highly sensitive electrochemical signals.

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Mechanical forces play an important role in cellular communication and signaling. We developed in this study novel electrochemical DNA-based force sensors for measuring cell-generated adhesion forces. Two types of DNA probes, i.

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Mechanical forces play an important role in cellular communication and signaling. We developed in this study novel electrochemical DNA-based force sensors for measuring cell-generated adhesion forces. Two types of DNA probes, i.

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Cells continuously experience and respond to different physical forces that are used to regulate their physiology and functions. Our ability to measure these mechanical cues is essential for understanding the bases of various mechanosensing and mechanotransduction processes. While multiple strategies have been developed to study mechanical forces within two-dimensional (2D) cell culture monolayers, the force measurement at cell-cell junctions in real three-dimensional (3D) cell models is still pretty rare.

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DNA nanodevices have been feasibly applied for various chemo-biological applications, but their functions as precise regulators of intracellular organelles are still limited. Here, we report a synthetic DNA binder that can artificially induce mitochondrial aggregation and fusion in living cells. The rationally designed DNA binder consists of a long DNA chain, which is grafted with multiple mitochondria-targeting modules.

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Living systems contain various membraneless organelles that segregate proteins and RNAs via liquid-liquid phase separation. Inspired by nature, many protein-based synthetic compartments have been engineered in vitro and in living cells. Here, we introduce a genetically encoded CAG-repeat RNA tag to reprogram cellular condensate formation and recruit various non-phase-transition RNAs for cellular modulation.

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Single-cell detection of multiple target analytes is an important goal in cell biology. However, due to the spectral overlap of common fluorophores, multiplexed fluorescence imaging beyond two-to-three targets inside living cells remains a technical challenge. Herein, we introduce a multiplexed imaging strategy that enables live-cell target detection via sequential rounds of imaging-and-stripping process, which is named as "sequential Fluorogenic RNA Imaging-Enabled Sensor" (seqFRIES).

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Living systems contain various functional membraneless organelles that can segregate selective proteins and RNAs via liquid-liquid phase separation. Inspired by nature, many synthetic compartments have been engineered in vitro and in living cells, mostly focused on protein-scaffolded systems. Herein, we introduce a nature-inspired genetically encoded RNA tag to program cellular condensate formations and recruit non-phase-transition target RNAs to achieve functional modulation.

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RNA-based nanostructures and molecular devices have become popular for developing biosensors and genetic regulators. These programmable RNA nanodevices can be genetically encoded and modularly engineered to detect various cellular targets and then induce output signals, most often a fluorescence readout. Although powerful, the high reliance of fluorescence on the external excitation light raises concerns about its high background, photobleaching, and phototoxicity.

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The cell membrane is a complex mixture of lipids, proteins, and other components. By forming dynamic lipid domains, different membrane molecules can selectively interact with each other to control cell signaling. Herein, we report several new types of lipid-DNA conjugates, termed as "DNA zippers", which can be used to measure cell membrane dynamic interactions and the formation of lipid domains.

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In recent years, DNA nanotechnology, including both structural and dynamic DNA nanotechnology, has emerged as a powerful tool for various analytical and biomedical applications in biological membranes [...

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Article Synopsis
  • * Their key attributes include programmability, quick membrane integration, and precise assembly, enabling diverse biophysical applications on live cell membranes.
  • * The review highlights recent advancements over the past three years in manipulating these conjugates' biophysical properties, along with current challenges and future research directions in this interdisciplinary area.
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Cellular processes and functions can be regulated by mechanical forces. Nanodevices that can measure and manipulate these forces are critical tools in chemical and cellular biology. Synthetic DNA oligonucleotides have been used to develop a wide range of powerful nanodevices due to their programmable nature and precise and predictable self-assembly.

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Article Synopsis
  • The cell membrane consists of various sub-compartments where lipids and proteins interact, but imaging these interactions in real-time is still difficult.
  • The researchers developed a DNA-based probe called "DNA Zipper" that uses fluorescence microscopy to visualize these transient membrane interactions in living cells.
  • By adjusting the DNA probe's length and binding properties, they can increase the duration of lipid interactions and link these findings to T-cell receptor signaling activities.
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Guanosine tetra- and pentaphosphate, (p)ppGpp, are important alarmone nucleotides that regulate bacterial survival in stressful environment. A direct detection of (p)ppGpp in living cells is critical for our understanding of the mechanism of bacterial stringent response. However, it is still challenging to image cellular (p)ppGpp.

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With highly precise self-assembly and programmability, DNA has been widely used as a versatile material in nanotechnology and synthetic biology. Recently, DNA-based nanostructures and devices have been engineered onto eukaryotic cell membranes for various exciting applications in the detection and regulation of cell functions. While in contrast, the potential of applying DNA nanotechnology for bacterial membrane studies is still largely underexplored, which is mainly due to the lack of tools to modify DNA on bacterial membranes.

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Cells are physically contacting with each other. Direct and precise quantification of forces at cell-cell junctions is still challenging. Herein, we have developed a DNA-based ratiometric fluorescent probe, termed DNAMeter, to quantify intercellular tensile forces.

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