abstract
Fluorescence imaging is a powerful and widely used method to visualize and study living organisms. However, fungi are notoriously difficult to visualize using fluorescence microscopy, given that their cell wall represents a diffusion barrier, and the synthetic organic dyes available are very limited when compared to molecular probes available for other organisms. Moreover, these dyes are usually available in only one colour, preventing co-staining experiments. To fill this gap, curcumin-based molecular probes were designed based on the rationale that curcumin is fluorescent and has moderate toxicity toward fungi, implying its ability to cross the cell wall to reach targets in the intracellular compartments. A family of boron diketonate complexes was synthesized, based on a curcumin backbone, tuning their emission color from blue to red. These probes did not present noticeable toxicity to filamentous fungus and, when applied to their visualization, readily entered the cells and precisely localized in sub-cellular organelles, enabling their visualization.
keywords
PHOTOPHYSICAL PROPERTIES; DYES
subject category
Chemistry
authors
Ferreira, JRM; Alves, M; Sousa, B; Vieira, SI; Silva, AMS; Guieu, S; Cunha, A; da Silva, RN
our authors
Samuel Jacques André Guieu
Junior ResearcherProjects
CICECO - Aveiro Institute of Materials (UID/CTM/50011/2019)
CICECO - Aveiro Institute of Materials (UIDB/50011/2020)
CICECO - Aveiro Institute of Materials (UIDP/50011/2020)
Collaboratory for Emerging Technologies, CoLab (EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES)
acknowledgements
Thanks are due to University of Aveiro, FCT/MCTES, Centro 2020 and Portugal 2020, the COMPETE program, and the European Union (FEDER program) for the financial support to the LAQV-REQUIMTE (UIDB/50006/2020), to the CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials (UID/CTM/50011/2019, UIDB/50011/2020 & UIDP/50011/2020), to the IBiMED (UID/BIM/04501/2013, UID/BIM/04501/2019 - POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007628), to the CESAM (UIDP/50017/2020, UIDB/50017/2020, LA/P/0094/2020), to the iBiMED/UA LiM facility through PPBI (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-022122), to the Portuguese NMR Network, and to the projects PAGE "Protein aggregation across the lifespan" (CENTRO-01-0145-FEDER-000003, RNS research contract - BPD/UI98/6327/2018) and HALIUS "Halotolerant rhizobacteria for enhanced tolerance of Olea europaea to saline stress and infection" (PTDC/BIA-MIC/3157/2020). SG is supported by national funds (OE), through FCT, I.P., in the scope of the framework contract foreseen in the numbers 4, 5, and 6 of the article 23, of the Decree-Law 57/2016, of August 29, changed by Law 57/2017, of July 19. JRMF thanks the FCT for her PhD grant (UI/BD/151272/2021).