Scientists have been looking for a way to take a peek at biomolecules inside living cells without disturbing their normal actions. With a newly developed optical imaging platform, visualizing biomolecules in live cells is now possible.
A team of researchers from Columbia University has come up with a new method that can be used in imaging small biomolecules inside living cells allowing scientists to see the molecules in action. A biomolecule is a type of molecule that is produced by living cells and organisms. This class of molecules include proteins, nucleic acid, metabolites and lipids. While older methods of imaging these molecules have been around for some time now, previous methods usually involve disturbing the activity of live cells. This means that scientists had a lot of difficulties with seeing how these biomolecules functioned inside living cells.
Aside from the huge advantage of minimal cellular disturbance, the new optical imaging technique is also more sensitive and accurate. Moreover, scientists can also localize specific biomolecules inside the cells for further study.
"The major advantages of our technique lie in the superb sensitivity, specificity and biocompatibility with dynamics of live cells and animals for small molecule imaging," said the lead author Lu Wei, a Ph.D. candidate in chemistry from the Columbia University and one of the study's authors.
Tagging molecules with alkaline tags such as fluorophores have been used in the past, but previous methods would often disturb the action of the biomolecules being observed. A key element to understanding exactly how these molecules work is to keep disturbance at a minimum. To accomplish this, the researchers used stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) microscopy After adding an alkaline tag to label certain molecules that scientists wanted to observe, the team then used SRS microscopy to visualize the molecules.
To demonstrate the new method, the team used the combination of fluorescent tags and SRS imaging on mouse tissues. The researchers were then able to observe how a cell synthesizes biomolecules such as proteins, lipids, RNA and even DNA.
"Our new technique will open up numerous otherwise difficult studies on small biomolecules in live cells and animals", said Wei Min, an assistant professor of Chemistry from the Columbia University who headed the study. "In addition to basic research, our technique could also contribute greatly to translational applications. I believe SRS imaging of alkyne tags could do for small biomolecules what fluorescence imaging of fluorophores such as GFP has done for larger species."
The University of Columbia team published its findings in the online journal Nature Methods.
