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Single-wavelength Excited Ratiometric Fluorescence pH Probe to Image Intracellular Trafficking of Tobacco Mosaic Virus

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Abstract

As a typical plant virus which has biocompatibility and high transfection efficiency, tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) has shown broad application potential in drug or gene delivery field. Elucidating its intracellular trafficking is of great importance in investigation of its cytotoxicity, targeting site, and delivery efficiency, and is advantageous to designing new TMV-based drug delivery systems with different targets. By taking advantage of the regulated pH value of different organelles in a mammalian cell, we exploit a pH detection strategy to investigate the intracellular trafficking pathway of TMV. Here, we report a single-wavelength excited ratiometric fluorescent pH probe. This probe is constructed by simultaneously coupling pH-sensitive fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) and pH-insensitive rhodamine B isothiocyanate (RBIRC) onto the inner surface of TMV. The fluorescence intensity ratio of FITC to RBITC excited at 488 nm responds specifically towards pH value over other interferential agents. By taking use of this single-wavelength excited ratiometric pH probe and confocal laser scanning microscopy, it is shown that the endocytosed TMV is located in a pH decreasing microenvironment and eventually enters lysosomes. This work may provide important guidance on construction of TMV-based nano carriers.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2018YFC1105300), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51703230 and 21776021), the Beijing Natural Science Foundation (No. 7182110), the Cross Training Plan for High Level Talents in Beijing, the Youth Innovation Promotion Association of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. 2017039), and the Presidential Foundation of Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Photochemical Conversion and Optoelectronic Materials, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China

    Si-Jia Gao, Zhuang Li, Ye Tian & Zhong-Wei Niu

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Si-Jia Gao

  3. Beijing Engineering Research Center of Printed Electronics, Beijing Institute of Graphic Communication, Beijing, 102600, China

    Zhi-Cheng Sun, Jin-Yue Wen, Fu-Rong Li, Xiao-Yang Du & Yan Liu

  4. School of Future Technology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Zhong-Wei Niu

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  1. Si-Jia Gao
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  2. Zhuang Li
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  3. Zhi-Cheng Sun
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  4. Jin-Yue Wen
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  5. Fu-Rong Li
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  6. Xiao-Yang Du
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  7. Yan Liu
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  8. Ye Tian
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  9. Zhong-Wei Niu
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Correspondence to Ye Tian or Zhong-Wei Niu.

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Gao, SJ., Li, Z., Sun, ZC. et al. Single-wavelength Excited Ratiometric Fluorescence pH Probe to Image Intracellular Trafficking of Tobacco Mosaic Virus. Chin J Polym Sci 38, 587–592 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-020-2365-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-020-2365-2

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