1 research outputs found
Sulfonated red and far-red rhodamines to visualize SNAP- and Halo-tagged cell surface proteins
The (in)ability to permeate membranes is a key feature of chemical biology probes that defines
their suitability for specific applications. Here we report sulfonated rhodamines that endow
xanthene dyes with cellular impermeability for analysis of surface proteins. We fuse charged
sulfonates to red and far-red dyes to obtain Sulfo549 and Sulfo646, respectively, and further link
these to benzylguanine and choloralkane substrates for SNAP-tag and Halo-tag labelling.
Sulfonated rhodamine-conjugated fluorophores maintain desirable photophysical properties,
such as brightness and photostability. While transfected cells with a nuclear localized SNAP-tag
remain unlabelled, extracellular exposed tags can be cleanly visualized. By multiplexing with a
permeable rhodamine, we are able to differentiate extra- and intracellular SNAP- and Halo-tags,
including those installed on the glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor, a prototypical class B G proteincoupled receptor. In more complex biological systems, Sulfo549 and Sulfo646 labelled
transfected neurons derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), allowing STED
nanoscopy of the axonal membrane. Together, this work provides a new avenue for rendering
dyes impermeable for exclusive extracellular visualization via self-labelling protein tags. We
anticipate that Sulfo549, Sulfo646 and their congeners will be useful for a number of cell biology
applications where labelling of intracellular sites interferes with accurate surface protein analysis