Genetically anchored fluorescent probes for subcellular specific imaging of hydrogen sulfide.

Imaging hydrogen sulfide (H2S) at the subcellular resolution will greatly improve the understanding of functions of this signaling molecule. Taking advantage of the protein labeling technologies, we report a general strategy for the development of organelle specific H2S probes, which enables sub-cellular H2S imaging essentially in any organelles of interest.

Substrates for improved live-cell fluorescence labeling of SNAP-tag.

The SNAP-tag labeling technology provides a simple, robust, and versatile approach to the imaging of fusion proteins for a wide range of experimental applications. Owing to the specific and covalent nature of the labeling reaction, SNAP-tag is well suited for the analysis and quantification of fused target protein using fluorescence microscopy techniques. In this report, we present our most recent findings on the labeling of SNAP-tag fusion proteins both in vitro and in cell culture with SNAP-tag substrates derived from single regioisomers of carboxyrhodamine dyes. Carboxyrhodamines are invaluable fluorescent dyes for biotechnology applications including DNA sequencing, detection on microarrays, and fluorescence in situ hybridization. We found that SNAP-tag reacts preferentially with the 6-positional regioisomer of carboxyrhodamine fluorescent dyes, whereas the 5-regioisomer predominantly contributes to background fluorescence. Our experimental study also indicates that benzylchloropyrimidine (CP) conjugates of 6-carboxyrhodamines exhibit a dramatic increase in the signal-to-noise ratio of fluorescently labeled cellular proteins compared to the benzylguanine (BG) conjugates, presumably due to higher cell permeability. These new SNAP-tag substrates based on pure 6-regioisomers can significantly improve fluorescence labeling in live cells and should become powerful tools for bioimaging applications.

Fluorescent labeling of COS-7 expressing SNAP-tag fusion proteins for live cell imaging.

SNAP-tag and CLIP-tag protein labeling systems enable the specific, covalent attachment of molecules, including fluorescent dyes, to a protein of interest in live cells. These systems offer a broad selection of fluorescent substrates optimized for a range of imaging instrumentation. Once cloned and expressed, the tagged protein can be used with a variety of substrates for numerous downstream applications without having to clone again. There are two steps to using this system: cloning and expression of the protein of interest as a SNAP-tag fusion, and labeling of the fusion with the SNAP-tag substrate of choice. The SNAP-tag is a small protein based on human O(6)-alkylguanine-DNA-alkyltransferase (hAGT), a DNA repair protein. SNAP-tag labels are dyes conjugated to guanine or chloropyrimidine leaving groups via a benzyl linker. In the labeling reaction, the substituted benzyl group of the substrate is covalently attached to the SNAP-tag. CLIP-tag is a modified version of SNAP-tag, engineered to react with benzylcytosine rather than benzylguanine derivatives. When used in conjunction with SNAP-tag, CLIP-tag enables the orthogonal and complementary labeling of two proteins simultaneously in the same cells.