Energy Transfer Between i-Motif DNA Encapsulated Silver Nanoclusters and Fluorescein Amidite Efficiently Visualizes the Redox State of Live Cells

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

The redox regulation, maintaining a balance between oxidation and reduction in living cells, is vital for cellular homeostasis, intricate signaling networks, and appropriate responses to physiological and environmental cues. Here, a novel redox sensor, based on DNA-encapsulated silver nanoclusters (DNA/AgNCs) and well-defined chemical fluorophores, effectively illustrating cellular redox states in live cells is introduced. Among various i-motif DNAs, the photophysical property of poly-cytosines (C20)-encapsulated AgNCs that sense reactive oxygen species (ROS) is adopted. However, the sensitivity of C20/AgNCs is insufficient for evaluating ROS levels in live cells. To overcome this drawback, the ROS sensing mechanism of C20/AgNCs through gel electrophoresis, mass spectrometry, and small-angle X-ray scattering is primarily defined. Then, by tethering fluorescein amidite (FAM) and Cyanine 5 (Cy5) dyes to each end of the C20/AgNCs sensor, an Energy Transfer (ET) between AgNCs and FAM is achieved, resulting in intensified green fluorescence upon ROS detection. Taken together, the FAM-C20/AgNCs-Cy5 redox sensor enables dynamic visualization of intracellular redox states, yielding insights into oxidative stress-related processes in live cells.

Original languageEnglish
Article number2401629
JournalSmall
ISSN1613-6810
DOIs
Publication statusAccepted/In press - 2024

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Korea Medical Device Development Fund (KMDF) (RS\u20102022\u201000141618), the Korea Health Technology R&D Project through the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI), funded by the Ministry of Health & Welfare, Republic of Korea (HU21C0053), the Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation (NRF) (NRF\u20102018R1A6A1A03025607, 2018R1D1A1B07051125, 2021R1A6A3A13044758, 2022R1F1A1073998, 2022R1A2C10915076, and 2023R1A2C3004112). This research was also supported in part by the Brain Korea 21 (BK21) FOUR (Fostering Outstanding Universities for Research) program from the Ministry of Education (MOE, Korea). H.C.Y. is a recipient of a fellowship awarded by the BK21 FOUR program.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Author(s). Small published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.

    Research areas

  • DNA, energy transfer, imaging, redox sensing, silver nanoclusters

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