title: Self-assembled hydrophobin for producing water-soluble and membrane permeable fluorescent dye.
abstract: Low water solubility and poor membrane permeability are major disadvantages that compromise applications of most fluorescent dyes. To resolve these problems, herein, using Boron-dipyrromethene (BODIPY) as a model fluorescent dye, for the first time, we provide a new strategy for the rapid and efficient production of a water-soluble and membrane-permeable dye by mixing with an amphiphilic protein named hydrophobin. Data shows BODIPY could be effectively solubilized and dispersed in 200 μg/mL hydrophobin by simple mixing and sonication. Subsequent experiments indicated that hydrophobin self-assembled into a protein film on the surface of BODIPY forming stable hydrophobin-BODIPY complexes with a size range of 10-30 nm. Furthermore, we demonstrated hydrophobin-functionalized BODIPY are toxicity free to cells. The hydrophobin-BODIPY complex could pass through both the cell plasma membrane and nuclear membrane efficiently. Our work opens a novel route to modify and functionalize fluorescent dyes and may be developed as a general strategy for broadening their applications.
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, School of Life Sciences, College of Precision Instrument and Opto-electronics Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Kunpeng
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemical Biology, College of Pharmacy, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, People's Republic of China.|Tianjin International Joint Academy of Biotechnology and Medicine, Tianjin 300457, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yunjie
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, School of Life Sciences, College of Precision Instrument and Opto-electronics Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yanyan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, School of Life Sciences, College of Precision Instrument and Opto-electronics Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, People's Republic of China.|Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering, Tianjin 300072, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yaqing
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, School of Life Sciences, College of Precision Instrument and Opto-electronics Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Cheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, School of Life Sciences, College of Precision Instrument and Opto-electronics Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, School of Life Sciences, College of Precision Instrument and Opto-electronics Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, School of Life Sciences, College of Precision Instrument and Opto-electronics Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Shuxian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, School of Life Sciences, College of Precision Instrument and Opto-electronics Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, People's Republic of China.|State Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemical Biology, College of Pharmacy, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, People's Republic of China.|Tianjin International Joint Academy of Biotechnology and Medicine, Tianjin 300457, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Zefang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, School of Life Sciences, College of Precision Instrument and Opto-electronics Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Haitao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001692:Biological Transport; D001896:Boron Compounds / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism; D002463:Cell Membrane Permeability; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D057927:Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; D051379:Mice; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D041681:NIH 3T3 Cells; D009685:Nuclear Envelope / Q000378:metabolism; D056951:Photoelectron Spectroscopy; D012995:Solubility; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: C095489:4,4-difluoro-4-bora-3a,4a-diaza-s-indacene; D001896:Boron Compounds; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D005656:Fungal Proteins; D014867:Water