14 DAY TRIAL // State-of-the-art in live cell fluorescent imaging is a method for tracking the intricate activities taking place inside living cells, and its results are so clear, that they can set the foundation for new types of treatments for a variety of diseases. But the method could further be enhanced via the addition of new classes of fluorescent probes, which is precisely what investigators at the Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) are doing. Experts from the Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biosensor and Imaging Center (MBIC) say that their new fluoromodules span the entire useful light spectrum, from near-infrared to ultraviolet wavelengths.
Once the new probes are thoroughly developed, fluorescent imaging will become a technique that will allow investigators to peer at the actions and motions of single proteins inside living cells, all of this in real-time. Using the fluoromodule technology, the MBIC experts have already produced diverse and photostable probes. Chemists and other scientists from CMU presented their achievements recently in San Francisco, California, at the 239th national meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS).
“We initially isolated and characterized fluoromodules that generate fluorescence from the fluorogenic dyes thiazole orange and malachite green. We are now expanding our repertoire by synthesizing new dyes that emit in the orange and violet regions of the spectrum, and engineering proteins that bind to the new dyes with great affinity,” explains CMU chemistry professor Bruce Armitage, who is a member of the team in charge of developing the fluoromodules at the MBIC. He is also the co-director of the Center for Nucleic Acid Science and Technology at the university. The scientist explains that the new technology is meant as an alternative to established fluorescent proteins, such as the Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP).
The main difference between fluoromodules and GFP is the fact that the former have a much wider selection of colors, which means that they have a greater overall potential for photostability. What this means is that scientists conducting their observations by tracking these dyes could do so for a much longer period of time than currently possible with the GFP. According to the CMU group, this is made possible by the fact that the chemical bonds between the dye and the protein it binds to are designed in a way that allows for new dye to replace “bleached” one.