Design and Synthesis of Fluorescent Probes for Mining Intracellular Metalloproteomes

Abstract

<p>A quarter to one third proteins are metalloproteins, playing an important role in various life processes. However, certain of them remains uncharacterized due to the lack of powerful tools in situ. Thus, development of a method for protein visualization and functional studies without perturbation of protein functions is of paramount significance1. Previously, we designed and synthesized a series of fluorescent probes composed of a specificity group and an arylazide group conjugated with different fluorophores to selectively label protein of interests after UV irradiation2-4. These probes have been successfully utilized to track metal related proteins in different cells. Nevertheless, due to low quantum yield and poor stability under different pH conditions (Ni2+-NTA-AF), the applications are limited. To overcome that, we designed and synthesized probes constructed by naphthalimide and rhodamine groups. These fluorescent probes show great stability under wide pH ranges and fluorescence enhancements upon incubation with protein of interests under UV irradiation. Further experiments to mine and edit intracellular metalloproteomes are under investigation.</p>