Protein metabolism, consisting of both synthesis and degradation, is highly complex, playing an indispensable regulatory role throughout physiological and pathological processes. Over recent decades, extensive efforts, using approaches such as autoradiography, mass spectrometry, and fluorescence microscopy, have been devoted to the study of protein metabolism. However, noninvasive and global visualization of protein metabolism has proven to be highly challenging, especially in live systems. We have harnessed SRS imaging coupled with deuterated amino acids for live visualization of complex protein metabolism, including synthesis, degradation, and pulse–chase analysis of two temporally defined populations. We are studying protein synthesis and degradation and trafficking in brain tissues, zebrafish, and even mice in vivo.
L. Wei, Y. Shen, F. Xu, F. Hu, J. Harrington, K. Targoff and W. Min. “Imaging complex protein metabolism in live organisms by stimulated Raman scattering microscopy with isotope labeling”, ACS Chem. Biol. 10, 901 (2015).
L. Wei, Y. Yu, Y. Shen, W. C. Wang* and W. Min*. “Vibrational imaging of newly synthesized proteins in live cells by stimulated Raman scattering microscopy”, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 110, 11226 (2013).
Y. Shen, F. Xu, L. Wei, F. Hu and W. Min. “Live-cell quantitative imaging of proteome degradation by stimulated Raman scattering”, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 53, 5596 (2014).
