Sun Z, Wu R, Zhao B, Zeinert R, Chien P, You M. Live-Cell Imaging of Guanosine Tetra- and Pentaphosphate (p)ppGpp with RNA-based Fluorescent Sensors*.
Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2021;
60:24070-24074. [PMID:
34487413 PMCID:
PMC8545912 DOI:
10.1002/anie.202111170]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2021] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Guanosine tetra- and pentaphosphate, (p)ppGpp, are important alarmone nucleotides that regulate bacterial survival in stressful environment. A direct detection of (p)ppGpp in living cells is critical for our understanding of the mechanism of bacterial stringent response. However, it is still challenging to image cellular (p)ppGpp. Here, we report RNA-based fluorescent sensors for the live-cell imaging of (p)ppGpp. Our sensors are engineered by conjugating a recently identified (p)ppGpp-specific riboswitch with a fluorogenic RNA aptamer, Broccoli. These sensors can be genetically encoded and enable direct monitoring of cellular (p)ppGpp accumulation. Unprecedented information on cell-to-cell variation and cellular dynamics of (p)ppGpp levels is now obtained under different nutritional conditions. These RNA-based sensors can be broadly adapted to study bacterial stringent response.
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