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Live Imaging of the Mitochondrial Glutathione Redox State in Primary Neurons using a Ratiometric Indicator
Published on: October 20, 2021
Organelle-Redirected Chameleon Sensor-Enabled Live Cell Imaging of Mitochondrial DNA
Xiaoxue Zou1, Yilong Shi2, Rui Zhu1
1Department of Chemical Biology, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, State Key Laboratory for Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces, the Key Laboratory for Chemical Biology of Fujian Province, the MOE Key Laboratory of Spectrochemical Analysis & Instrumentation, and Innovation Center for Cell Signaling Network , Xiamen University , Xiamen 361005 , China.
Abstract:
Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) plays important roles in diverse physiological processes and myriad diseases. We herein report mtDNA imaging with a chameleon sensor containing a cationic rhodamine B (RB) entity for mitochondria targeting and a fluorogenic SYBR Green-I (SG) entity for DNA sensing. SG-RB selectively binds to mtDNA and gives green SG fluorescence in mitochondria of living cells but gives red RB fluorescence upon delivery of mitochondria into lysosomes in mitophagy. With the dual-color imaging, mtDNA aggregation and elevated mitophagy were identified in HeLa cells stressed with anticancer doxorubicin. These results suggest the utility of organelle-redirected DNA sensors for live cell imaging of mtDNA involved in myriad pathological disorders.
