Optochemical Control of mRNA Translation in Eukaryotes

Abstract

A major stage in the expression of genes is the translation of messenger RNA (mRNA), and the regulation of this process is essential for protein production in cells. How tightly controlled gene expression can be spatially and temporally, is particularly evident in polar cells and embryonic development. We need tools to dissect these complex processes, if we wish to understand the underlying links, especially the difficulties brought on by malfunction. External bioorthogonal triggers are very helpful in this area, if they let us precisely control where and when a process is started. Equipping nucleic acids with light-responsive groups has proven to be an effective approach to examine the dynamic regulatory route of mRNA translation in living cells. In this review, we present an overview of the most recent methods for optochemically controlling translation, focusing on cis-acting technologies.

Modular Weaving DNAzyme in Skeleton of DNA Nanocages for Photoactivatable Catalytic Activity Regulation

“…[13,[16][17][18][19][20][21] Due to its noninvasiveness, tunability of wavelength and amplitude, and high spatiotemporal resolution, light has been exploited as an excellent bio-orthogonal trigger for modulating various biochemical reactions in cell and molecular biology. [22][23][24] For instance, the emergence of optogenetics have boosted the revolution of neuroscience by conveying unprecedented tools for dissecting molecular events in living cells. [25,26] In addition, photochemical approaches have been extensively explored for spatiotemporal regulation of gene editing, [27,28] gene transcription, [29,30] and biosensing and imaging [5,6] by engineering nucleic acids with photo-sensitive units.…”

Modulating Secondary Structure Motifs Through Photo‐Labile Peptide Staples

“…[25,26] Moreover, the usage of photons as reagents is beneficial as they can be applied externally and are traceless reagents by nature. [27] In this manner, photoresponsive small bioactive molecules, [26,[28][29][30][31][32] nucleotides, [33][34][35][36][37] UAAs, [38][39][40][41] and peptides [41][42][43][44][45][46][47] have been developed.…”