Imaging mRNA expression levels in living cells with PNA· DNA binary FRET probes delivered by cationic shell-crosslinked nanoparticles

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2013

Abstract

Optical imaging of gene expression through the use of fluorescent antisense probes targeted to the mRNA has been an area of great interest. The main obstacles to developing highly sensitive antisense fluorescent imaging agents have been the inefficient intracellular delivery of the probes and high background signal from unbound probes. Binary antisense probes have shown great promise as mRNA imaging agents because a signal can only occur if both probes are bound simultaneously to the mRNA target site. Selecting an accessible binding site is made difficult by RNA folding and protein binding in vivo and the need to bind two probes. Even more problematic, has been a lack of methods for efficient cytoplasmic delivery of the probes that would be suitable for eventual applications in vivo in animals. Herein we report the imaging of iNOS mRNA expression in live mouse macrophage cells with PNA·DNA binary FRET probes delivered by a cationic shell crosslinked knedel-like nanoparticle (cSCK). We first demonstrate that FRET can be observed on in vitro transcribed mRNA with both the PNA probes and the PNA·DNA hybrid probes. We then demonstrate that the FRET signal can be observed in live cells when the hybrid probes are transfected with the cSCK, and that the strength of the FRET signal is sequence specific and depends on the mRNA expression level.

Comments

Copyright 2013 Royal Society of Chemistry

Publication Title

Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry

Published Citation

Wang, Zhenghui, Ke Zhang, Yuefei Shen, Jillian Smith, Sharon Bloch, Samuel Achilefu, Karen L. Wooley, and John-Stephen Taylor. "Imaging mRNA expression levels in living cells with PNA· DNA binary FRET probes delivered by cationic shell-crosslinked nanoparticles." Organic & biomolecular chemistry 11, no. 19 (2013): 3159-3167. 10.1039/C3OB26923J

DOI

10.1039/C3OB26923J

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