Delivery of chemical cargo to endogenous proteins on live cells

Abstract

During the past two decades, our collective mastery of gene manipulation, delivery, and fluorescent fusion protein expression has been astounding and has enabled never before dreamed of new lines of research. These advances, coupled with progress in the collection and analysis of microscopy data, have allowed the scientific community to detect proteins in live cells with resolution that was unthinkable not long ago. The confluence of protein engineering and advanced microscopy has enabled us to observe cellular processes at the single molecule level and to begin unraveling the mysteries of cellular biochemistry and dynamics. These advances, however, require delivery of a contrast agent to the subject organism which can sometimes lead to untoward effects and potentially confounded results. Here, I present an opinion on the need to improve and deploy new strategies that allow for the silent tagging of endogenous proteins with contrast agents.