A photoregulated DNA nanoflower for spatiotemporally controlled monitoring of adenosine triphosphate in living cells.

Authors

Liu Wang, Xiaodong Ren, Ning Su, Qian Mi, Ruiqing Liu, Huimin Chong, Xiaohui Chen, Qing Huang

Published in

Analytica chimica acta. Volume 1421. Pages 346070. Nov 01, 2026. Epub Aug 02, 2026.

Abstract

Visualization of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) dynamics in living cells is crucial for revealing metabolic abnormalities in tumors. Although DNA-based fluorescent probes show promise for biomolecular detection, their application in intracellular imaging faces several challenges, including insufficient cellular uptake efficiency and nonspecific signal activation prior to reaching the cellular target. To address these limitations, we constructed a tumor-targeted, aptamer-based, photocleavable DNA nanoflower (TAPE) system via rolling circle amplification (RCA). The TAPE integrates three core functional modules: the AS1411 aptamer module for tumor cell targeting via nucleolin binding, a cholesterol-modified module for enhanced membrane interaction and delivery, and a photocontrollable ATP-sensing module. In vitro characterization confirmed that TAPE's dual-input (UV light and ATP) sensing logic requires prior photocleavage followed by ATP binding to trigger fluorescence signals. The system demonstrated an ATP detection limit of 39.18 μM with high selectivity over other nucleotide triphosphates. Cellular uptake studies showed that TAPE was efficiently internalized by nucleolin-positive A549 cancer cells in an AS1411 aptamer-dependent manner, with a positive uptake rate of 98.5%. This uptake efficiency was significantly higher than that in control cells (P < 0.0001). In cellular experiments, TAPE enabled the spatiotemporally controlled imaging of intracellular ATP, successfully monitoring ATP level fluctuations induced by pharmacological agents etoposide under photocleavage-mediated activation. In conclusion, this study develops a spatiotemporally controlled intracellular ATP imaging strategy, offering a reliable platform for tumor research.

PMID:
42702422
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 07 Sep 2026.

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