Design of near-infrared fluorescent probes with strong affinity for the fluorescence imaging of small RNA duplexes

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17H04881
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (A)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Analytical chemistry
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: Sato Yusuke 東北大学, 理学研究科, 助教 (90583039)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 小分子RNA / 蛍光プローブ / イメージング

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We have developed a series of fluorescent probes targeting small RNA duplexes such as small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) for the imaging analysis of their intracellular behaviors. We demonstrated that peptide nucleic acid (PNA)-based fluorescent probes with strong affinity toward the overhanging structure of siRNAs were applicable to the fluorescence imaging analysis of the intracellular delivery process of 20 nM siRNAs taht could be considered to show minimal off-target effects. We also proposed new probe design strategy for the simultanoues recognition of overhanging and double-stranded region of target siRNAs in a sequence-selective manner. This probe allows the selective detection of intact siRNA duplexes with a view toward the accurate analysis of intracellular behaviors of siRNAs.

Free Research Field

生命分析化学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究では小分子RNA二重鎖に対して強くかつ選択的に結合し、近赤外領域で明瞭な蛍光応答を示す新規なプローブ群を開発した。これらは細胞内における小分子RNA二重鎖の動態の検出や可視化（イメージング）における有用な分子プローブとして機能することを実証した。ここで得られた成果は革新的な医薬応用が期待される小分子RNA二重鎖の動態解析における有用な分析技術に供するものと期待できる。