Volume 135, Issue 40 e202308472
Zuschrift

Constructing Photoactivatable Protein with Genetically Encoded Photocaged Glutamic Acid

Xiaochen Yang

Xiaochen Yang

State Key Laboratory and Institute of Elemento-Organic Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300071 China

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Lei Zhao

Lei Zhao

State Key Laboratory and Institute of Elemento-Organic Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300071 China

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Ying Wang

Ying Wang

School of Life Sciences, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072 China

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Yanli Ji

Yanli Ji

State Key Laboratory and Institute of Elemento-Organic Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300071 China

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Prof. Dr. Xun-Cheng Su

Prof. Dr. Xun-Cheng Su

State Key Laboratory and Institute of Elemento-Organic Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300071 China

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Prof. Dr. Jun-An Ma

Prof. Dr. Jun-An Ma

Department of Chemistry, Frontier Science Center for Synthetic Biology (Ministry of Education), Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072 P. R. China

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Prof. Dr. Weimin Xuan

Corresponding Author

Prof. Dr. Weimin Xuan

State Key Laboratory and Institute of Elemento-Organic Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300071 China

School of Life Sciences, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072 China

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First published: 16 August 2023

Abstract

Genetically replacing an essential residue with the corresponding photocaged analogues via genetic code expansion (GCE) constitutes a useful and unique strategy to directly and effectively generate photoactivatable proteins. However, the application of this strategy is severely hampered by the limited number of encoded photocaged proteinogenic amino acids. Herein, we report the genetic incorporation of photocaged glutamic acid analogues in E. coli and mammalian cells and demonstrate their use in constructing photoactivatable variants of various fluorescent proteins and SpyCatcher. We believe genetically encoded photocaged Glu would significantly promote the design and application of photoactivatable proteins in many areas.

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.

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