RNA G-quadruplex in live cells lighted-up by a thiazole orange analogue for SCA36 identification

SCA36 is a neurodegenerative disease mainly caused by the abnormal expansion of the GGGCCT repeat sequence in intron 1 of NOP56. The RNA sequences of this gene are expected to form large amounts of G-quadruplexes in the cytoplasm, which may be a potential intervention and detection target for SCA36. Here, we have developed a small-molecular compound named TCB-1, which shows good selectivity to the G-quadruplex structure, and its fluorescence can be enhanced by hundreds of folds. Interestingly, TCB-1 can avoid lysosome capture, evenly disperse in the cytoplasm, and selectively light up the cytoplasmic RNA G-quadruplexes. This property allows TCB-1 to sensitively detect the increased formation of cytoplasmic RNA G-quadruplexes in SCA36 model cells. This work not only provides new ideas for the design of small-molecule compounds targeting RNA G-quadruplexes in living cells, but also intuitively demonstrates the increased formation of RNA G-quadruplexes caused by NOP56 gene mutation, providing a possible tool for the detection of SCA36.