Cell-permeant and photocleavable chemical inducer of dimerization.

Chemical inducers of dimerization (CIDs) have been developed to orchestrate protein dimerization and translocation. Here we present a novel photocleavable HaloTag- and SNAP-tag-reactive CID (MeNV-HaXS) with excellent selectivity and intracellular reactivity. Excitation at 360 nm cleaves the methyl-6-nitroveratryl core of MeNV-HaXS. MeNV-HaXS covalently links HaloTag- and SNAP-tag fusion proteins, and enables targeting of selected membranes and intracellular organelles. MeNV-HaXS-mediated translocation has been validated for plasma membrane, late endosomes, lysosomes, Golgi, mitochondria, and the actin cytoskeleton. Photocleavage of MeNV-HaXS liberates target proteins and provides access to optical manipulation of protein relocation with high spatiotemporal and subcellular precision. MeNV-HaXS supports kinetic studies of protein dynamics and the manipulation of subcellular enzyme activities, which is exemplified for Golgi-targeted cargo and the assessment of nuclear import kinetics.