Genetically Encoded 1,2-Aminothiol for Site-Specific Modification of a Cellular Membrane Protein via TAMM Condensation.

Site-specific modification of proteins has wide applications in probing and perturbing biological systems. A popular means to achieve such a modification on a target protein is through a reaction between bioorthogonal functionalities. Indeed, various bioorthogonal reactions have been developed, including a recently reported reaction between 1,2-aminothiol and ((alkylthio)(aryl)methylene)malononitrile (TAMM). Here, we describe the procedure that combines genetic code expansion and TAMM condensation for site-specific modification of cellular membrane proteins. The 1,2-aminothiol functionality is introduced through a genetically incorporated noncanonical amino acid to a model membrane protein on mammalian cells. Treatment of the cells with a fluorophore-TAMM conjugate leads to fluorescent labeling of the target protein. This method can be applied to modify different membrane proteins on live mammalian cells.