Ribosome Affinity Carbon Dots for Living-Cell Imaging of Endoplasmic Reticulum

Abstract

The fluorescence imaging of ribosome-endoplasmic reticulum (ER) system is commonly affected by the complex intracellular environment and the non-specificity of ER receptors. Therefore, the development of novel targeting strategy is necessary to enhance the efficiency and precision of fluorescence dyes delivery to ribosome-ER system. In cell, ribosomes are dynamically binding with the ER and are present in considerable numbers and distributed throughout the cell. A strategy was designed to achieve ER fluorescence delivery by employing ribosomes as intracellular carriers. Levofloxacin, which has low toxicity to eukaryotic cell was selected as ribosome anchoring moiety, and without interfering ribosome function. The surface-modified levofloxacin LT-CDs was synthesized for active target to the ER in the process of cell translation. The cell experiments shown that the LT-CDs have well biocompatibility, and effectively localized in the ER. This strategy provides a new hitchhiking idea for the labelling of organelles.