Trifunctional sphingomyelin derivatives enable nanoscale resolution of sphingomyelin turnover in physiological and infection processes via expansion microscopy.

ABSTRACT: Sphingomyelin is a key molecule of sphingolipid metabolism, and its enzymatic breakdown is associated with various infectious diseases. Here, we introduce trifunctional sphingomyelin derivatives that enable the visualization of sphingomyelin distribution and sphingomyelinase activity in infection processes. We demonstrate this by determining the activity of a bacterial sphingomyelinase on the plasma membrane of host cells using a combination of Förster resonance energy transfer and expansion microscopy. We further use our trifunctional sphingomyelin probes to visualize their metabolic state during infections with Chlamydia trachomatis and thereby show that chlamydial inclusions primarily contain the cleaved forms of the molecules. Using expansion microscopy, we observe that the proportion

SUBMITTER: Ruhling M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11358447 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature