Monitoring the in vivo siRNA release from lipid nanoparticles based on the fluorescence resonance energy transfer principle

The siRNA-loaded lipid nanoparticles have attracted much attention due to its significant gene silencing effect and successful marketization.However,the in vivo distribution and release of siRNA still cannot be effectively monitored.In this study,based on the fluorescence resonance energy transfer(FRET)principle,a fluorescence dye Cy5-modified survivin siRNA was conjugated to nanogolds(Au-DR-siRNA),which were then wrapped with lipid nanoparticles(LNPs)for monitoring the release behaviour of siRNA in vivo.The results showed that once Au-DR-siRNA was released from the LNPs and cleaved by the Dicer enzyme to produce free siRNA in cells,the fluorescence of Cy5 would change from quenched state to activated state,showing the location and time of siRNA release.Besides,the LNPs showed a significant antitumor effect by silencing the survivin gene and a CT imaging function superior to iohexol by nanogolds.Therefore,this work provided not only an effective method for monitoring the pharmacokinetic behaviour of LNP-based siRNA,but also a siRNA delivery system for treating and diagnosing tumors.

A mini review and hypothesis for coronavirus detection using photonics: surface enhanced Raman scattering and fluorescence resonance energy transfer

COVID-19 has devastated numerous nations around the world and has overburdened numerous healthcare systems,which has also caused the loss of livelihoods due to prolonged shutdowns and further led to a cascading effect on the global economy.COVID-19 infections have an incubation period of 2–7 days,but 40 to 45%of cases are asymptomatic or show mild to moderate respiratory symptoms after the period due to subclinical lung abnormalities,making it more likely to spread the pandemic disease.To restrict the spread of the virus,on-site diagnosis methods that are quicker,more precise,and easily accessible are required.Rapid Antigen Detection Tests and Polymerase Chain Reaction tests are currently the primary methods used to determine the presence of COVID-19 viruses.These tests are typically time-consuming,not accurate,and,more importantly,not available to everyone.Hence,in this review and hypothesis,we proposed equipment that employs the properties of photonics to improve the detection of COVID-19 viruses by taking the advantage of typical binding of coronavirus with angiotensin-converting enzyme 2(ACE2)receptors.This hypothetical model would combine Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering(SERS)and Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer(FRET)to provide great flexibility,high sensitivities,and enhanced accessibility.

Recent developments of quantum dot based micro-LED based on non-radiative energy transfer mechanism

With regard to micro-light-emitting diodes(micro-LEDs),their excellent brightness,low energy consumption,and ultrahigh resolution are significant advantages.However,the large size of traditional inorganic phosphors and the number of side defects have restricted the practical applications of small sized micro-LEDs.Recently,quantum dot(QD)and nonradiative energy transfer(NRET)have been proposed to solve existing problems.QDs possess nanoscale dimensions and high luminous efficiency,and they are suitable for NRET because they are able to nearly contact the micro-LED chip.The NRET between QDs and micro-LED chip further improves the color conversion efficiency(CCE)and effective quantum yield(EQY)of full-color micro-LED devices.In this review,we discuss the NRET mechanism for QD micro-LED devices,and then nano-pillar LED,nano-hole LED,and nano-ring LED are introduced in detail.These structures are beneficial to the NRET between QD and micro-LED,especially nano-ring LED.Finally,the challenges and future envisions have also been described.

Screening and identification of bioactive compounds from citrus against non-structural protein 3 protease of hepatitis C virus genotype 3a by fluorescence resonance energy transfer assay and mass spectrometry

BACKGROUND Hepatitis C virus genotype 3a(HCV G3a)is highly prevalent in Pakistan.Due to the elevated cost of available Food and Drug Administration-approved drugs against HCV,medicinal natural products of potent antiviral activity should be screened for the cost-effective treatment of the disease.Furthermore,from natural products,active compounds against vital HCV proteins like non-structural protein 3(NS3)protease could be identified to prevent viral proliferation in the host.AIM To develop cost-effective HCV genotype 3a NS3 protease inhibitors from citrus fruit extracts.METHODS Full-length NS3 without co-factor non-structural protein 4A(NS4A)and codon optimized NS3 protease in fusion with NS4A were expressed in Escherichia coli.The expressed protein was purified by metal ion affinity chromatography and gel filtration.Citrus fruit extracts were screened using fluorescence resonance energy transfer(FRET)assay against the protease and polyphenols were identified as potential inhibitors using electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry(MS)/MS technique.Among different polyphenols,highly potent compounds were screened using molecular modeling approaches and consequently the most active compound was further evaluated against HCV NS4A-NS3 protease domain using FRET assay.RESULTS NS4A fused with NS3 protease domain gene was overexpressed and the purified protein yield was high in comparison to the lower yield of the full-length NS3 protein.Furthermore,in enzyme kinetic studies,NS4A fused with NS3 protease proved to be functionally active compared to full-length NS3.So it was concluded that co-factor NS4A fusion is essential for the purification of functionally active protease.FRET assay was developed and validated by the half maximal inhibitory concentration(IC50)values of commercially available inhibitors.Screening of citrus fruit extracts against the native purified fused NS4A-NS3 protease domain showed that the grapefruit mesocarp extract exhibits the highest percentage inhibition 91%of protease activity.Among the compounds identified by LCMS analysis,hesperidin showed strong binding affinity with the protease catalytic triad having S-score value of-10.98.CONCLUSION Fused NS4A-NS3 protease is functionally more active,which is effectively inhibited by hesperidin from the grapefruit mesocarp extract with an IC50 value of 23.32μmol/L.

Highly-efficient quantitative fluorescence resonance energy transfer measurements based on deep learning

Intensity-based quantitative fluorescence resonance energy transfer(FRET)is a technique to measure the distance of molecules in scale of a few nanometers which is far beyond optical diffraction limit.This widely used technique needs complicated experimental process and manual image analyses to obtain precise results,which take a long time and restrict the application of quantitative FRET especially in living cells.In this paper,a simplified and automatic quanti-tative FRET(saqFRET)method with high efficiency is presented.In saqFRET,photo-activatable acceptor PA-mCherry and optimized excitation wavelength of donor enhanced green fluorescent protein(EGFP)are used to simplify FRET crosstalk elimination.Traditional manual image analyses are time consuming when the dataset is large.The proposed automatic image analyses based on deep learning can analyze 100 samples within 30 s and demonstrate the same precision as manual image analyses.

Investigation of fluorescence resonance energy transfer ultrafast dynamics in electrostatically repulsed and attracted exciton-plasmon systems

Following the gradual maturation of synthetic techniques for nanomaterials,exciton-plasmon composites have become a research hot-spot due to their controllable energy transfer through electromagnetic fields on the nanoscale.However,most reports ignore fluorescence resonance energy transfer(FRET)under electrostatic repulsion conditions.In this study,the FRET process is investigated in both electrostatic attraction and electrostatic repulsion systems.By changing the Au:quantum dot ratio,local-field induced FRET can be observed with a lifetime of ns and a fast component of hundreds of ps.These results indicate that the intrinsic transfer process can only elucidated by considering both steady and transient state information.

Retraction Note:Screening and identification of bioactive compounds from citrus against non-structural protein 3 protease of hepatitis C virus genotype 3a by fluorescence resonance energy transfer assay and mass spectrometry

Retraction note:Khan M,Rauf W,Habib F,Rahman M,Iqbal M.Screening and identification of bioactive compounds from citrus against non-structural protein 3 protease of hepatitis C virus genotype 3a by fluorescence resonance energy transfer assay and mass spectrometry.World J Hepatol 2020;12(11):976-992 PMID:33312423 DOI:10.4254/wjh.v12.i11.976.The online version of the original article can be found at https://www.wjgnet.com/1948-5182/full/v12/i11/976.htm.

Near Resonant Electronic and Rotational Energy Transfer AB（^1∏, J）＋C（^slj）→AB（^1∏, J＇）＋C（^sl j＇）

In our previous theoretical study, the theoretical model of thecollision-induced electronic and rotational energy transfer of AB(~1Σ, J) + C(~sl_j) → AB(~1Σ,J′) + C(~sl_(j′)) was presented. To further study the collision-induced electronic and rotationalenergy transfer theoretically on AB( ~1Π, J) + C(~sl_j) → AB( ~1Π, J′) + C(~sl_(j′)), atheoretical model is presented, based on the time-dependent first-order Born approximation, takinginto account the anisotropic Lennard-Jones interaction potential and 'straight-line' trajectoryapproximation. The changing tendency of the transitional probabilities with the anisotropicparameter is discussed.

Lifetime-tunable circularly polarized luminescent system based on triplet-to-singlet Förster resonance energy transfer

Circularly polarized luminescence(CPL)materials have received widespread attention due to their remarkable performance and broad applications.However,current CPL material research primarily focuses on tunable color,intensity,and reversibility.Constructing CPL with adjustable lifetime remains a significant challenge.Herein,a series of CPL polymeric materials with tunable lifetime were obtained by employing phosphorescent terephthalic acid and chiral organic small molecule R/S-BNAF(a luminescent binaphthol derivative)to copolymerize with acrylamide in different ratios.It was verified that this performance results from the different energy transfer efficiency between luminophores with varying ratios of the monomers for copolymerization.This strategy to realize CPL with tunable lifetime by modulating the energy transfer efficiency will provide a new perspective to broaden the applications of CPL materials.

Resonant Energy Transfer, with Creation of Hyper-Excited Atoms, and Molecular Auto-Ionization in a Cold Rydberg Gas

A cold Rydberg gas, with its atoms prepared initially all in the excited state |n0> , with n0 »1, contains an excessive amount of energy, and presumably is to relax by the Penning-type molecular auto-ionization (MAI), in which a portion of excess energy of one atom is given to another near-by atom and ionizing it. Its complementary process, the resonant energy transfer (RET), is discussed, in which the excess energy of one atom is used on another to form a hyper-excited atomic state |na> with na»n0. This process is always present, provided certain resonance energy conditions are satisfied. In this report, the n0 and density dependences of the RET rates are studied in detail, employing a simple model: 1) at low densities, the RET is mediated by the dipole-dipole coupling Vdd and its rates are generally much smaller than that of MAI, especially for small n0. But 2) as the density increases, our model shows that the rates become of comparable magnitude or even larger than the MAI rates. The Vdd is no longer adequate. We, then construct a semi-empirical potential to describe the RET process. 3) At high densities, we show that the atomic orbital of |na> overlaps with that of neighboring atoms, and the electron-electron potential becomes prominent, resulting in much higher rates.

Flexible Förster resonance energy transfer-assisted optical waveguide based on elastic mixed molecular crystals

Flexible molecular crystal waveguides based on elastic molecular crystals(EMCs)are essential inflexible and compact optical materials.An increased loss coeffi-cientαdue to self-absorption is often a problem in optical waveguides(OWGs)offluorescent chemical materials waveguiding photons in active mode.Herein,the development of anthracene-based elastic mixed molecular crystals(EMMCs)is reported for Förster Resonance Energy Transfer(FRET)-assisted OWG.To yield a FRET crystal system based on elastic molecular crystals,1%–5%accep-tor doping forfluorescent molecular crystals of 9,10-dibromoanthracene 1 was successful by selecting the same regioisomer having electron-withdrawing group,9,10-diformylanthracene 2,as a dopant.In addition to conversion to the mixed system,there is a difference in the elastic modulus and hardness in EMC C1 and EMMC C2@1.However,the elastic behaviour was also shown in a few percent doping of the acceptor.Theαvalue of this EMMC,composed of 1 including 1%of 2(0.0077 dB/μm),is much lower than that of EMC composed of 1(0.1258 dB/μm)because of reducing self-absorption in the FRET system.An efficient andflexible OWG was successfully developed by selecting an appropriate acceptor molecule and its low doping rate for mixed crystal construction.This method is a practical approach in various functional andflexible crystal systems.

Phonon-assisted excitation energy transfer in photosynthetic systems

The phonon-assisted process of energy transfer aiming at exploring the newly emerging frontier between biology and physics is an issue of central interest.This article shows the important role of the intramolecular vibrational modes for excitation energy transfer in the photosynthetic systems.Based on a dimer system consisting of a donor and an acceptor modeled by two two-level systems,in which one of them is coupled to a high-energy vibrational mode,we derive an effective Hamiltonian describing the vibration-assisted coherent energy transfer process in the polaron frame.The effective Hamiltonian reveals in the case that the vibrational mode dynamically matches the energy detuning between the donor and the acceptor,the original detuned energy transfer becomes resonant energy transfer.In addition,the population dynamics and coherence dynamics of the dimer system with and without vibration-assistance are investigated numerically.It is found that,the energy transfer efficiency and the transfer time depend heavily on the interaction strength of the donor and the high-energy vibrational mode,as well as the vibrational frequency.The numerical results also indicate that the initial state and dissipation rate of the vibrational mode have little influence on the dynamics of the dimer system.Results obtained in this article are not only helpful to understand the natural photosynthesis,but also offer an optimal design principle for artificial photosynthesis.

Spatial effect and resonance energy transfer for the construction of carbon dots composites with long-lived multicolor afterglow for advanced anticounterfeiting

Carbon dots(CDs)with room-temperature phosphorescence(RTP)have attracted dramatically growing interest in optical functional materials.However,the photoluminescence mechanism of CDs is still a vital and challenging topic.In this work,we prepared CD-based RTP materials via melting boric acid with various lengths of alkyl amine compounds as precursors.The spatial effect on the structure and the RTP properties of CDs were systematically investigated.With the increase in carbon chain length,the interplanar spacing of the carbon core expands and crosslink-enhanced emission weakens,resulting in a decrease in the phosphorescence intensity and lifetimes.Meanwhile,based on triplet-to-singlet resonance energy transfer,we employed intense and long-lived phosphorescence CDs as the donor and short-lived fluorescent dyes as the acceptor to achieve long-lived multicolor afterglow.By the triplet-to-singlet resonance energy transfer,the afterglow color can change from green to orange.The afterglow lifetimes are more than 0.9 s.Thanks to the outstanding afterglow properties,the composites were used for timeresolved and multiple-color advanced anticounterfeiting.This work will promote the design of multicolor and long-lived afterglow materials and expand their applications.

Single-particle detection of cholesterol based on the host-guest recognition induced plasmon resonance energy transfer

Plasmon resonance energy transfer(PRET) occurs between the plasmonic nanoparticles(NPs) and organic dyes forming donor-acceptor pairs, which has great potential in quantitative analytical chemistry because of its excellent sensitivity under dark-field microscopy(DFM). Herein, we introduce supramolecular β-cyclodextrin(β-CD) to design a host-guest recognition plasmonic nano-structure modified gold nanoparticles(GNPs), while GNPs and rhodamine molecule(RB) act as the donor and acceptor, respectively. In the presence of the target cholesterol, due to the stronger binding of cholesterol with β-CD, RB molecules are released, inducing the inhibition of PRET, as well as the increase of the scattering intensity of GNPs.The proposed strategy achieves a linear range from 0.02 μmol/L to 2.0 μmol/L for cholesterol detection,and reaches a limit of detection(LOD) of 6.7 nmol/L. This host-guest recognition strategy can easily integrate receptor-donor pair into one nanoparticle, which simplifies the construction of the PRET platform,and further provides an effective approach for PRET-based analytical applications. Afterwards, the proposed PRET strategy was successfully applied for the detection of cholesterol in serum samples with high sensitivity and specificity. The proposed method provides an effective clinically potential means for the detection of cholesterol and other disease-related biomarkers.

Efficient transfer of metallophosphor excitons via confined polaritons in organic nanocrystals

We investigate the transfer of phosphorescent energy between co-assembled metallophosphors in crystalline nanostructures [Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 57 7820(2018) and J. Am. Chem. Soc. 140 4269(2018)]. Neither Dexter's nor Forster's mechanism of resonance energy transfer(RET) could account fully for the observed rates, which exceed 85% with significant temperature dependence. But there exists an alternative pathway on RET mediated by intermediate states of resonantly confined exciton–polaritons. Such a mechanism was used to analyze artificial photosynthesis in organic fluorescents [Phys.Rev. Lett. 122 257402(2019)]. For metallophosphors, the confined modes act as extended states lying between the molecular S_(1) and T_(1) states, offering a bridge for the long-lived T_(1) excitons to migrate from donors to acceptors. Population dynamics with parameters taken entirely based on experiments fits the observed lifetimes of phosphorescence across a broad range of doping and temperature.

基于四甲基联苯胺和吖啶橙间荧光共振能量转移的比率型荧光测定左氧氟沙星

基于3,3’,5,5’(四甲基联苯胺(3,3’,5,5’-tetramethylbenzidine,TMB)和吖啶橙(AO)之间荧光共振能量转移(FRET),建立了一种快速、低背景干扰、高灵敏度测定盐酸左氧氟沙星(LVF)的新型比率型荧光探针。在pH 5.0 NaAc-HCl缓冲溶液中,在310 nm的光激发下,TMB在350~500 nm处的荧光光谱和AO的吸收光谱重叠。以TMB作为能量供体,AO作为能量受体,构建了FRET体系。根据能量转移理论,该体系的荧光共振能量转移效率为62.5%,供体-受体间距离为2.17 nm,进一步说明TMB和AO之间发生了FRET。当在体系中加入LVF后,TMB将荧光能量转移给LVF,LVF又作为供体将能量转移给AO。LVF在TMB和AO之间起到桥梁作用,LVF将吸收的TMB荧光能量转移给AO,使得TMB荧光强度明显降低,AO的荧光强度则显著增加,从而提高了体系的FRET效率。在最优实验条件下,F546 nm与F402 nm之比与LVF浓度(2~80μmol·L^(-1))之间存在良好的线性关系,线性回归方程为F_(546 nm)/F_(402 nm)=87.916c+3.108,线性相关系数为0.9993,检出限(LOD)为15.7 nmol·L^(-1)。一些常见的阳离子(K^(+),Mg^(2+),Ca^(2+),Cu^(2+),Mn^(2+),Zn^(2+),Co^(2+),Ni^(2+),Cr^(3+)等)、阴离子(F^(-),Br^(-),NO_(3)^(-),IO_(3)^(-),CO_(3)^(2-),SO_(4)^(2-)等)、糖类(葡萄糖,蔗糖和淀粉)、药物(谷胱甘肽,抗坏血酸和异烟肼)和几种氨基酸(甘氨酸,亮氨酸,半胱氨酸等)均不干扰LVF的测定,表明该比率型荧光探针对LVF具有高选择性。该方法用于商用药物制剂中LVF含量的测定,加标回收率在93%~97%之间。该比率型荧光探针在临床研究中对LVF的检测具有较大的应用潜力,为开发一种简便、选择性和灵敏的检测药物制剂中LVF含量的传感器提供了较好的理论依据,同时为提高LVF临床用药的安全性与合理性水平提供了一定的方法。

荧光共振能量转移上转换适配体探针法检测牛奶中的痕量氯霉素

本研究合成了亲水性稀土掺杂的上转换荧光纳米颗粒(UCNPs)作为荧光能量的供体,金纳米颗粒(AuNPs)作为荧光能量的受体,基于荧光共振能量转移(FRET)体系,建立了检测痕量氯霉素(CAP)的适配体探针方法。UCNPs在波长980 nm激发下,在波长547 nm处有特征发射光。柠檬酸钠还原法制备的AuNPs在波长519 nm处有吸收峰。UCNPs通过链霉亲和素-生物素放大系统连接CAP适配体,形成荧光供体探针(UCNPs-apt),AuNPs与修饰巯基的CAP互补链连接,形成荧光受体探针(AuNPs-cDNA)。由于适配体和cDNA的碱基互补配对,发生FRET导致UCNPs荧光猝灭,加入CAP后部分荧光恢复。在最优的检测条件下,CAP浓度与荧光恢复值具有良好的线性关系,线性范围为0.01~10 ng/mL,检测限为5 pg/mL。采用本方法对牛奶样品进行加标回收实验,回收率在93.5%~99.4%之间,相对标准偏差为1.18%~2.84%。该方法具有简单、特异性强、灵敏度高、抗荧光背景干扰能力强等特点。

基于荧光共振能量转移效应的荧光传感器在真菌毒素检测中的应用

真菌毒素对人和动物具有剧毒和致癌性,且预防和控制其对食品造成的污染较为困难,因此人们对真菌毒素的关注度越来越高。检测食品中的真菌毒素十分必要,传统检测方法的检测结果准确、可靠,但所需设备昂贵、检测时间长,不符合快速检测真菌毒素的要求。因此,需要开发出快速、灵敏、准确且经济的真菌毒素检测方法。基于荧光共振能量转移(fluorescence resonance energy transfer,FRET)效应的荧光传感器由于操作简单、反应速度快、结果可靠且成本低而广泛应用于检测行业。本文主要介绍了基于FRET效应荧光传感器的检测机制,综述了该传感器在真菌毒素检测中的应用情况,提出了目前荧光传感器仍存在的问题并对其未来的发展趋势进行了展望,以期为新型荧光传感器的设计及真菌毒素检测时灵敏度的优化提供参考。

玄参水提取物对高糖暴露条件下INS-1细胞AMPK的激活作用

目的研究玄参水提取物(AESN)对高糖(HG)条件下INS-1细胞腺苷酸活化蛋白激酶(AMPK)活性的影响。方法将INS-1细胞培养于HG培养基中,并给予不同浓度AESN共孵育处理;利用细胞计数试剂-8(CCK-8)法检测AESN干预对细胞增殖/活力和焦亡小体形成的影响,使用Western blotting法观察AESN对细胞内AMPK表达及磷酸化水平的影响;利用时间分辨-荧光共振能量转移(TR-FRET)实验检测AESN对AMPK激酶活性的影响。结果CCK-8检测结果显示同正常培养条件相比,HG暴露显著降低INS-1细胞增殖/活力并增加焦亡小体形成数量,Western blotting检测结果表明HG暴露可导致细胞内AMPK磷酸化水平下降;而AESN共孵育可呈浓度依赖性地增加INS-1细胞增殖/活力、抑制焦亡小体形成并激活AMPK。TR-FRET实验结果表明,AESN可浓度依赖性增加AMPK激酶活性。结论AESN对HG暴露条件下INS-1细胞AMPK具有激活作用。