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, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China.
Ming Wai Lau Centre for Reparative Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Hong Kong, China.
Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2018 May 14;57(20):5750-5753. doi: 10.1002/anie.201801653. Epub 2018 Apr 14.
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.
银染技术利用了银离子的特殊生物亲和力和显色还原反应，是生物学中不可或缺的可视化方法。它是凝胶内蛋白质检测最常用的方法。然而，它受到运行间可变性、背景染色、无法进行蛋白质定量以及与质谱 (MS) 分析兼容性有限的限制；这些限制在很大程度上归因于复杂的显色可视化。在此，我们报道了一种新型水溶性荧光银探针，其传感机制基于四唑-Ag 相互作用驱动的聚集诱导发射 (AIE) 过程。荧光传感可以替代显色反应，从而产生一种新的荧光银染方法。这种新的染色方法提供了对聚丙烯酰胺凝胶中总蛋白的灵敏检测，具有宽线性动态范围和稳健的操作性能，可与硝酸银染色和最佳荧光染色相媲美。
