A single promoter system co-expressing RNA sensor with fluorescent proteins for quantitative mRNA imaging in living tumor cells.

Genetically encoded light-up RNA aptamers afford a valuable platform for developing RNA sensors toward live cell imaging. However, quantitative imaging of intracellular RNAs remains a grand challenge. Here we reported a novel genetically encoded RNA sensor strategy using a plasmid that expresses a splittable fusion of the RNA sensor and the GFP mRNA in an individual transcript using a single promoter system.