Synthesis and characterisation of N-gene targeted NIR-II fluorescent probe for selective localisation of SARS-CoV-2

Parikshit Moitra, Maha Alafeef, Ketan Dighe, Zach Sheffield, Dipendra Dahal, Dipanjan Pan

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Tracking the viral progression of SARS-CoV-2 in COVID-19 infected body tissues is an emerging need of the current pandemic. Imaging at near infrared second biological window (NIR-II) offers striking benefits over the other technologies to explore deep-tissue information. Here we design, synthesise and characterise a molecular probe that selectively targets the N-gene of SARS-CoV-2. Highly specific antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) were conjugated to lead sulfide quantum dots using a UV-triggered thiol-ene click chemistry for the recognition of viral RNA. Our ex vivo imaging studies demonstrated that the probe exhibits aggregation induced NIR-II emission only in presence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA which can be attributed to the efficient hybridisation of the ASOs with their target RNA strands.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)6229-6232
Number of pages4
JournalChemical Communications
Volume57
Issue number51
Early online dateMay 28 2021
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 28 2021

Keywords

  • COVID-19
  • severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)
  • Pandemic

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
  • Ceramics and Composites
  • Metals and Alloys
  • Materials Chemistry
  • Surfaces, Coatings and Films
  • Chemistry(all)
  • Catalysis

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