Functional Nucleic Acid-Based Live-Cell Fluorescence Imaging

Yutong Zhang; Yulin Du; Yuting Zhuo; Liping Qiu

doi:10.3389/fchem.2020.598013

Functional Nucleic Acid-Based Live-Cell Fluorescence Imaging

Front Chem. 2020 Dec 11:8:598013. doi: 10.3389/fchem.2020.598013. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Yutong Zhang¹, Yulin Du¹, Yuting Zhuo^{1

2}, Liping Qiu^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Molecular Science and Biomedicine Laboratory (MBL), State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Bio-Sensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, College of Biology, Aptamer Engineering Center of Hunan Province, Hunan University, Changsha, China.
² NHC Key Laboratory of Birth Defect for Research and Prevention, Hunan Provincial Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital, Changsha, China.

Abstract

Cell is the structural and functional unit of organism. It serves as a key research object in various biological processes, such as growth, ontogeny, metabolism and stress. Studying the spatiotemporal distribution and functional activity of specific biological molecules in living cells is crucial for exploring the mechanism governing life. It also facilitates the elucidation of pathogenesis, clinical prevention and disease theranostics. In recent years, the fluorescence imaging technique has been greatly exploited for live-cell imaging. However, the development of molecular probes has lagged far behind. Functional nucleic acids (FNAs), for example, aptamer and DNAzyme, possess special chemical and/or biological functions, hence severing as promising molecular tools for cellular imaging. The current mini review focuses on the applications of FNAs in live-cell fluorescence imaging.

Keywords: DNAzyme; aptamer; fluorescence probe; functional nucleic acid; live-cell imaging.

Publication types

Review