Fluorogenic Ag+–Tetrazolate Aggregation Enables Efficient Fluorescent Biological Silver Staining |
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| Authors: | Dr Sheng Xie Alex Y H Wong Dr Ryan T K Kwok Dr Ying Li Dr Huifang Su Dr Jacky W Y Lam Prof?Dr Sijie Chen Prof?Dr Ben Zhong Tang |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Chemistry, Hong Kong Branch of Chinese National Engineering Research Center for Tissue Restoration and Reconstruction, Institute of Molecular Functional Materials, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, Division of Biomedical Engineering, and Division of Life Science., The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, China;2. Ming Wai Lau Centre for Reparative Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Hong Kong, China;3. Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Brain Science, Disease and Drug Development, HKUST-Shenzhen Research Institute, Shenzhen, China;4. Guangdong Innovative Research Team, SCUT-HKUST Joint Research Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China |
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| Abstract: | Silver staining, which exploits the special bioaffinity and the chromogenic reduction of silver ions, is an indispensable visualization method in biology. It is a most popular method for in‐gel protein detection. However, it is limited by run‐to‐run variability, background staining, inability for protein quantification, and limited compatibility with mass spectroscopic (MS) analysis; limitations that are largely attributed to the tricky chromogenic visualization. Herein, we reported a novel water‐soluble fluorogenic Ag+ probe, the sensing mechanism of which is based on an aggregation‐induced emission (AIE) process driven by tetrazolate‐Ag+ interactions. The fluorogenic sensing can substitute the chromogenic reaction, leading to a new fluorescence silver staining method. This new staining method offers sensitive detection of total proteins in polyacrylamide gels with a broad linear dynamic range and robust operations that rival the silver nitrate stain and the best fluorescent stains. |
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| Keywords: | aggregation-induced emission metal-ion sensor protein detection silver staining tetrazolate-silver assembly |
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