Designing caged compounds for spatiotemporal control of cellular chemistry

Abstract

Photoirradiation of an appropriately designed caged compound enables the control and manipulation of biological processes in living cells with high spatial and temporal resolution. Brominated (coumarin-4-yl)methyl groups were designed to have favorable photochemical and physical properties as photoremovable protecting groups of caged compounds. Caged compounds of various types of biologically related molecules including neurotransmitters, second messengers, inhibitors of some proteins and mRNAs have been synthesized. A membrane-permeable caged cGMP, Bhc-cGMP/Ac, controlled a cGMP-dependent signaling pathway in a freely swimming sperm cell. Spot illumination of Bhcmoc-diC8 produced localized accumulation of diacylglycerol in a single T-cell.