In Situ Assay of Proteins Incorporated with Unnatural Amino Acids in Single Living Cells by Differenced Resonance Light Scattering Correlation Spectroscopy

Site-specific incorporation of unnatural amino acids (UAAs) into target proteins (UAA-proteins) provides the unprecedented opportunities to study cell biology and biomedicine. However, it is a big challenge to in situ quantitatively determine the expression level of UAA-proteins due to serious interferences from autofluorescence, background scattering, and different viscosity in living cells. Here, we proposed a novel single nanoparticle spectroscopy method, differenced resonance light scattering correlation spectroscopy (DRLSCS), to measure the UAA-proteins in single living cells. The D-RLSCS principle is based on the simultaneous measurement of the resonance scattering light fluctuation of a single gold nanoparticle (GNP) in two detection channels irradiated by two coaxial laser beams and then autocorrelation analysis on the differenced fluctuation signals between two channels. DRLSCS can avoid the interferences from intracellular background scattering and provide the concentration and rotational and translational diffusion information of GNPs in solution or in living cells. Furthermore, we proposed a parameter, the ratiometric diffusion time and found that this parameter is proportional to the square of particle size. The theoretical and experimental results demonstrated that the ratiometric diffusion time was not influenced by the intracellular viscosity. This method was successfully applied for in situ quantification of the UAA-protein within single living cells based on the increase in the ratiometric diffusion time of nanoprobes bound with proteins. Using UAA-EGFP (enhanced green fluorescent protein) as a model, we observed the significant difference in the UAA-protein concentrations at different positions in single living cells.

Automated summary

The article introduces a novel single nanoparticle spectroscopy method for measuring unnatural amino acid proteins in single living cells, successfully achieving quantification of UAA-proteins. This method avoids intracellular background interference and provides information on nanoparticle concentration, rotation, and diffusion.