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Updated: Feb 21, 2026

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Real-time Imaging of Single Engineered RNA Transcripts in Living Cells Using Ratiometric Bimolecular Beacons
Published on: August 6, 2014
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A water-soluble two-photon ratiometric triarylboron probe with nucleolar targeting by preferential RNA binding
Jun Liu1, Shilu Zhang, Chenghua Zhang
1Sichuan Key Laboratory of Medical Imaging & Department of Chemistry, School of Preclinical Medicine, North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong, 637000, China. ustbliujun@iccas.ac.cn.
Abstract:
By functionalizing triarylboron with cyclen, we developed a two-photon fluorescence probe, TAB-2, which can selectively bind RNA with a ratiometric readout. We tested TAB-2 in NIH/3T3 fibroblast cells, and demonstrated its capability in visualizing nucleoli and analyzing microenvironment polarity by two-photon and fluorescence-lifetime imaging microscopy.

