Investigating the Effect of RNA Scaffolds on the Multicolor Fluorogenic Aptamer Pepper in Different Bacterial Species

RNA synthetic biology tools have primarily been applied in E. coli; however, many other bacteria are of industrial and clinical significance. Thus, the multicolor fluorogenic aptamer Pepper was evaluated in both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Suitable HBC-Pepper dye pairs were identified that give blue, green, or red fluorescence signals in the E. coli, Bacillus subtilis, and Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium). Furthermore, we found that different RNA scaffolds have a drastic effect on in vivo fluorescence, which did not correlate with the in vitro folding efficiency. One such scaffold termed DF30-tRNA displays 199-fold greater fluorescence than the Pepper aptamer alone and permits simultaneous dual color imaging in live cells.