AI Article Synopsis

  • Monitoring enzymatic activities at cell surfaces is tough due to limitations in FRET-based biosensors, which struggle with transport and membrane integration.
  • A new hybrid biosensor was developed using a monobody variant (PEbody) that binds to a specific dye, enabling real-time visualization of intercellular junction dynamics.
  • This biosensor demonstrated varying levels of MT1-MMP activities at different types of cell-cell contacts, highlighting the potential of directed evolution and design techniques for better monitoring molecular interactions in live cells.

Article Abstract

Monitoring enzymatic activities at the cell surface is challenging due to the poor efficiency of transport and membrane integration of fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based biosensors. Therefore, we developed a hybrid biosensor with separate donor and acceptor that assemble in situ. The directed evolution and sequence-function analysis technologies were integrated to engineer a monobody variant (PEbody) that binds to R-phycoerythrin (R-PE) dye. PEbody was used for visualizing the dynamic formation/separation of intercellular junctions. We further fused PEbody with the enhanced CFP and an enzyme-specific peptide at the extracellular surface to create a hybrid FRET biosensor upon R-PE capture for monitoring membrane-type-1 matrix metalloproteinase (MT1-MMP) activities. This biosensor revealed asymmetric distribution of MT1-MMP activities, which were high and low at loose and stable cell-cell contacts, respectively. Therefore, directed evolution and rational design are promising tools to engineer molecular binders and hybrid FRET biosensors for monitoring molecular regulations at the surface of living cells.

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http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5910193PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chembiol.2018.01.002DOI Listing

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