A Maleimide-functionalized Tetraphenylethene for Measuring and Imaging Unfolded Proteins in Cells

  • Chem Asian J. 2019 Mar 15;14(6):904-909. doi: 10.1002/asia.201900150.
Shouxiang Zhang  1 ,  Mengjie Liu  1 ,  Lewis Yi Fong Tan  1 ,  Quentin Hong  2 ,  Ze Liang Pow  2 ,  Tze Cin Owyong  1  2 ,  Siyang Ding  1 ,  Wallace W H Wong  2 ,  Yuning Hong  1
Affiliations
  • 1. Department of Chemistry and Physics, La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC 3086, Australia.
  • 2. ARC Centre of Excellence in Exciton Science, School of Chemistry, Bio21 Institute, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia.
PMID: 30768765 DOI: 10.1002/asia.201900150
Abstract

Collapse of the protein homeostasis (proteostasis) can lead to accumulation and aggregation of unfolded proteins, which has been found to associate with a number of disease conditions including neurodegenerative diseases, diabetes and inflammation. Here we report a maleimide-functionalized tetraphenylethene (TPE)-derivatized Fluorescent Dye, TPE-NMI, which shows fluorescence turn-on property upon reacting with unfolded proteins in vitro and in live cells under proteostatic stress conditions. The level of unfolded proteins can be measured by flow cytometry and visualized with confocal microscopy.

Keywords
aggregation-induced emission; cell imaging; fluorescent probes; tetraphenylethene; unfolded proteins.
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