Gas vesicles (GVs) are proteinaceous nanostructures that, along with virus-like particles, encapsulins, nano-cages, and other macromolecular assemblies are being developed for potential biomedical applications. To facilitate such development, it would be valuable to characterize these nanostructures' sub-cellular assembly and localization. However, traditional fluorescent protein fusions are not tolerated by GVs' primary constituent protein, making optical microscopy a challenge. Here, we introduce a method for fluorescently visualizing intracellular GVs using the bioorthogonal label FlAsH, which becomes fluorescent upon binding the six-amino acid tetracysteine (TC) tag. We engineered the GV subunit protein, GvpA, to display the TC tag, and showed that GVs bearing TC-tagged GvpA can be successfully assembled and fluorescently visualized in HEK 293T cells. We used fluorescence images of the tagged GVs to study GV size and distance distributions within these cells. This bioorthogonal labeling approach will enable research to provide a greater understanding of GVs and could be adapted to similar proteinaceous nanostructures.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/2023.11.30.569486 | DOI Listing |
Clin Cancer Res
January 2025
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, United States.
Purpose: Recent clinical advances with the approval of antibody-drug conjugates targeting Trop-2 such as sacituzumab-govitecan and datopotomab-deruxtecan have garnered tremendous interest for their therapeutic efficacy in numerous tumor types including breast and lung cancers. ImmunoPET can stratify tumor avidity, clarifying patient eligibility for ADC therapy as well as a diagnostic companion during therapy. Slow antibody circulation requires days to reach optimal imaging timepoints.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnal Chim Acta
February 2025
School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, 100081, PR China. Electronic address:
Exosomes, which are known to transport diverse proteins from parent cells to recipient cells, consequently influence the biological activities of the recipient cells. Among those proteins, the epithelial cell adhesion molecule (EpCAM), plays a crucial role as it is implicated in cell adhesion and signaling processes. As exosomal EpCAM potentially affects the migration of recipient cells, direct visualization with high spatial resolution is essential to better understand this impact and the role of exosomal EpCAM in recipient cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChem Sci
January 2025
Synthetic and Functional Biomolecules Center, Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry and Molecular Engineering of Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University Beijing 100871 China
Protein lysine crotonylation has been found to be closely related to the occurrence and development of various diseases. Currently, site identification of crotonylation is mainly dependent on antibody enrichment; however, due to the cost, heterogeneity, and specificity of antibodies, it is desired to develop an alternative chemical tool to detect crotonylation. Herein, we report an alkynyl-functionalized bioorthogonal chemical probe, Cr-alkyne, for the detection and identification of protein lysine crotonylation in mammalian cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBioorg Med Chem
January 2025
State Key Laboratory of Chemical Oncogenomics, School of Chemical Biology and Biotechnology, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen 518055, China. Electronic address:
Vitamin A and its primary active derivative, all-trans retinoic acid (RA), are endogenous signaling molecules essential for numerous biological processes, including cell proliferation, differentiation, and immune modulation. Owing to its differentiation-inducing effect, RA was the first differentiating agent approved for the clinical treatment of acute myeloid leukemia. While the classical mechanisms of RA signaling involve nuclear receptors, such as retinoic acid receptors (RARs), emerging evidence suggests that RA also engages in non-covalent and covalent interactions with a broader range of proteins.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFbioRxiv
December 2024
Divison of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA.
Sphingolipids are an essential lipid component of the skin barrier with alterations in skin sphingolipid composition associated with multiple skin disorders including psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, and ichthyosis. Contributions to skin sphingolipid abundance are not well characterized, thus the main method of modulating skin lipid levels is the topical application of creams rich with sphingolipids at the skin surface. Evidence that diet and gut microbiome function can alter skin biology proposes an intriguing potential for the modulation of skin lipid homeostasis through gut microbial metabolism, but potential mechanisms of action are not well understood.
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