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Alkene–Tetrazine Ligation for Imaging Cellular DNA
Author(s) -
Rieder Ulrike,
Luedtke Nathan W.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
angewandte chemie international edition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.831
H-Index - 550
eISSN - 1521-3773
pISSN - 1433-7851
DOI - 10.1002/anie.201403580
Subject(s) - bioorthogonal chemistry , tetrazine , click chemistry , deoxyuridine , alkene , azide , alkyne , chemistry , dna , nucleic acid , combinatorial chemistry , ligation , biochemistry , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , organic chemistry , catalysis
5‐Vinyl‐2′‐deoxyuridine (VdU) is the first reported metabolic probe for cellular DNA synthesis that can be visualized by using an inverse electron demand Diels–Alder reaction with a fluorescent tetrazine. VdU is incorporated by endogenous enzymes into the genomes of replicating cells, where it exhibits reduced genotoxicity compared to 5‐ethynyl‐2′‐deoxyuridine (EdU). The VdU–tetrazine ligation reaction is rapid ( k ≈0.02 M −1 s −1 ) and chemically orthogonal to the alkyne–azide “click” reaction of EdU‐modified DNA. Alkene–tetrazine ligation reactions provide the first alternative to azide–alkyne click reactions for the bioorthogonal chemical labeling of nucleic acids in cells and facilitate time‐resolved, multicolor labeling of DNA synthesis.