Imaging Fluorescence Blinking of a Mitochondrial Localization Probe: Cellular Localization Probes Turned into Multifunctional Sensors.

ABSTRACT: Mitochondrial membranes and their microenvironments directly influence and reflect cellular metabolic states but are difficult to probe on site in live cells. Here, we demonstrate a strategy, showing how the widely used mitochondrial membrane localization fluorophore 10-nonyl acridine orange (NAO) can be transformed into a multifunctional probe of membrane microenvironments by monitoring its blinking kinetics. By transient state (TRAST) studies of NAO in small unilamellar vesicles (SUVs), together with computational simulations, we found that NAO exhibits prominent reversible singlet-triplet state transitions and can act as a light-induced Lewis acid forming a red-emissive doublet radical. The resulting blinking kinetics are highly environment-sensitive, specifically reflecting local membr

SUBMITTER: Du Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9059120 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature