Multicoloured fluorescent indicators for live-cell and in vivo imaging of inorganic mercury dynamics.

Multicoloured fluorescent indicators for live-cell and in vivo imaging of inorganic mercury dynamics.
Free Radic Biol Med. 2018 Apr 20;:
Authors: Tao R, Shi M, Zou Y, Cheng D, Wang Q, Liu R, Wang A, Zhu J, Deng L, Hu H, Chen X, Du J, Zhu W, Zhao Y, Yang Y
Abstract
Engineered fluorescent indicators for visualizing mercury ion (Hg2+) are powerful tools to illustrate the intracellular distribution and serious toxicity of the ion. However, the sensitive and specific detection of Hg2+ in living cells and in vivo is challenging. This paper reported the development of fluorescent indicators for Hg2+ in green or red color by inserting a circularly permuted fluorescent protein into a highly mercury-specific repressor. These sensors provided a rapid, sensitive, specific, and real-time read-out of Hg2+ dynamics in solutions, bacteria, subcellular organelles of mammalian cells, and zebrafish, thereby providing a useful new method for Hg2+ detection and bioimaging. In conjunction with the hydrogen peroxide sensor HyPer, we found mercury uptake would trigger subcellular oxidative events at the single-cell level, and provided visual evidence of the causality of mercury and oxidative damage. These sensors would paint the landscape of mercury toxicity to cell functions.
PMID: 29684410 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Source: Free Radical Biology and Medicine - April 20, 2018 Category: Biology Authors: Tao R, Shi M, Zou Y, Cheng D, Wang Q, Liu R, Wang A, Zhu J, Deng L, Hu H, Chen X, Du J, Zhu W, Zhao Y, Yang Y Tags: Free Radic Biol Med Source Type: research