Transcription and translation are under tight spatiotemporal regulation among cells to coordinate multicellular organization. Methods that allow massively parallel detection of gene expression dynamics at the single cell level are required for elucidating the complex regulatory mechanisms. Here we present a multiplex nanobiosensor for real-time monitoring of protein and mRNA expression dynamics in live cells based on gapmer aptamers and complementary locked nucleic acid probes. Using the multiplex nanobiosensor, we quantified spatiotemporal dynamics of vascular endothelial growth factor A mRNA and protein expressions in single human endothelial cells during microvascular self-organization. Our results revealed distinct gene regulatory processes in the heterogeneous cell subpopulations.

转录和翻译在细胞之间受到严格的时空调节，以协调多细胞组织。需要能够在单个细胞水平上大规模并行检测基因表达动态的方法，以阐明复杂的调控机制。在这里，我们提出了一种基于纳米胶体适体和互补锁定核酸探针实时监测活细胞中蛋白质和mRNA表达动态的多重纳米生物传感器。使用多重纳米生物传感器，我们量化了微血管自组织过程中单个人内皮细胞中血管内皮生长因子A mRNA和蛋白质表达的时空动态。我们的结果揭示了异质细胞亚群中独特的基因调控过程。