Sekundärionen-Massenspektrometrie von genetisch kodierten Zielproteinen

Boron-Containing Probes for Non-optical High-Resolution Imaging of Biological Samples

Boron has been employed in materials science as a marker for imaging specific structures by electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) or secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). It has a strong potential in biological analyses as well; however, the specific coupling of a sufficient number of boron atoms to a biological structure has proven challenging. Herein, we synthesize tags containing closo‐1,2‐dicarbadodecaborane, coupled to soluble peptides, which were integrated in specific proteins by click chemistry in mammalian cells and were also coupled to nanobodies for use in immunocytochemistry experiments. The tags were fully functional in biological samples, as demonstrated by nanoSIMS imaging of cell cultures. The boron signal revealed the protein of interest, while other SIMS channels were used for imaging different positive ions, such as the cellular metal ions. This allows, for the first time, the simultaneous imaging of such ions with a protein of interest and will enable new biological applications in the SIMS field.

A Sensitive and Wide Coverage Ambient Mass Spectrometry Imaging Method for Functional Metabolites Based Molecular Histology

Histological examination with a deep link between functional metabolites and tissue structure and biofunctions will provide important in situ biochemical information, and then essentially reveal what has happened in tissue at the molecular level. However, due to the complexity and heterogeneity of tissue samples and the large number of metabolites, it is still a challenge to globally map the diverse metabolites, especially for those low-abundance functional ones. Here, a sensitive air flow-assisted desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometry imaging method for the mapping of a broad range of metabolites is presented. It exhibits properties characteristic of wide coverage, high sensitivity, wide dynamic range, rapid analysis procedure, and high specificity for tissue metabolites imaging. More than 1500 metabolites, including cholines, polyamines, amino acids, carnitines, nucleosides, nucleotides, nitrogen bases, organic acids, carbohydrates, cholesterol sulfate, cholic acid, lipids, etc., can be visualized in an untargeted analysis. The distribution of metabolites shows good spatial match with tissue histological structure and biofunctions in heterogeneous rat kidney, rat brain, and human esophageal cancer tissue. This method possesses the ability to globally showcase the molecular processes in tissue, and provide an insightful way for structural and functional molecular recognition in histological examination, even for intraoperative decision-making.