Unnatural Amino Acids for Biological Spectroscopy and Microscopy.
Ran-Ran FengManxi WangWenkai ZhangFeng GaiPublished in: Chemical reviews (2024)
Due to advances in methods for site-specific incorporation of unnatural amino acids (UAAs) into proteins, a large number of UAAs with tailored chemical and/or physical properties have been developed and used in a wide array of biological applications. In particular, UAAs with specific spectroscopic characteristics can be used as external reporters to produce additional signals, hence increasing the information content obtainable in protein spectroscopic and/or imaging measurements. In this Review, we summarize the progress in the past two decades in the development of such UAAs and their applications in biological spectroscopy and microscopy, with a focus on UAAs that can be used as site-specific vibrational, fluorescence, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), or nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) probes. Wherever applicable, we also discuss future directions.
Keyphrases
- high resolution
- single molecule
- amino acid
- magnetic resonance
- energy transfer
- molecular docking
- living cells
- high speed
- physical activity
- solid state
- molecular dynamics simulations
- mental health
- small molecule
- current status
- healthcare
- smoking cessation
- photodynamic therapy
- magnetic resonance imaging
- single cell
- electron microscopy