Introducing the “Seeing into Cells” Special Issue - American Chemical

Editorial pubs.acs.org/biochemistry

Introducing the “Seeing into Cells” Special Issue e are hard at work at Biochemistry. After refreshing the journal’s scope to match the full spectrum of modern biological chemistry,1 recruiting a spectacular and diverse editorial team,2 and launching a set of strategic and new manuscript types,3 I am now proud and super excited to introduce our first special issue, “Seeing into Cells.” “Seeing into Cells” comprises virtually every aspect of modern molecular imaging. The scope includes both the development of novel tools as well as the application of these tools to probe biomolecule location, movement, and function, usually in vivo. There are papers on new fluorophores that emphasize the essential and unique role of physical and synthetic organic chemistry in turning dreams (brighter, more stable fluorophores and luminescent probes) into reality. There are papers on how to deliver these fluorophores and probes to difficult-to-explore targets within the cell, notably RNA and discrete organelles. And there are papers on how biological discovery can be catalyzed with these novel and unique molecules. Seeing is believing, especially when one can see at higher resolution, for longer times, or deeper, say, within an animal. The “Seeing into Cells” issue of Biochemistry highlights recent progress and sets a course for future research in this crucial area of biological chemistry.

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toolbox, that allow discrete organelles to be visualized at superresolution for up to 50 times longer than previously possible.8

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NEW APPLICATIONS Three Perspectives in this Special Issue draw attention to how novel imaging tools can catalyze important biological discovery. Xiaokun Shu (UC San Francisco) discusses how fluorescence imaging allows activity to be detected across length scales spanning multiple orders of magnitude.9 Mikhail Shapiro’s contribution (Caltech) takes this special issue beyond imaging to include control of cellular function using acoustic and magnetic methods.10 Jin Zhang (UC San Diego) focuses on recent studies to identify where molecules are active within cells, efforts that provide much clearer glimpses into cellular architectureas featured on this special issue’s cover.11 Finally, Dirk Trauner (New York University) addresses the difficulties in targeting receptors for drug development by covering the use of tethered photopharmacology.12

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FUTURE As I hope to emphasize in this special issue, many diverse and exciting biochemical methods are now available for gleaning insight into biological activity and dynamics. Our next special issue, due to appear in early 2018, will highlight work from a virtual army of early career biological chemists whose research will in many ways set the path for the future of our field. It’s quite an issue. Sincerely,

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FLUOROPHORES NEW AND OLD A Perspective from Luke Lavis (Janelia), “Chemistry is Dead. Long live Chemistry!,” whose title is a play on the 1422 phrase “Le roi est mort, vive le roi!”, accurately crowns organic dyes as the reigning kings of fluorescent microscopy for many diverse applications. The broad utility of fluorescent proteins notwithstanding, organic dyes better fulfill the demand for large photon budgets, emission in the far red, and most notably a smaller “price for peeking.”4 In a Perspective from Evan Miller (UC Berkeley), the utility of small molecule dyes as well as fluorescent proteins and new opsin-based strategies are highlighted, with a focus on their ability to monitor real-time changes in neuronal membrane potential.5 A Perspective from Jennifer Prescher (UC Irvine) reminds us that molecules that emit light without absorbing energya process known as bioluminescencefulfill a unique role in tracking biological processes in live cells, thick tissues, and, perhaps most importantly, live animals.6

Alanna Schepartz,* Editor-in-Chief

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AUTHOR INFORMATION

Corresponding Author

*E-mail: [email protected]. ORCID

Alanna Schepartz: 0000-0003-2127-3932

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Notes

Views expressed in this editorial are those of the author and not necessarily the views of the ACS.

NEW BIOMOLECULES Although many tools exist to modify proteins to enable their visualization within live cells, it has been much more challenging to label other biomolecules and structures, most notably RNAs and to visualize supramolecular structures such as organelles for long times. In this special issue, Neal Devaraj (UC San Diego) discusses the current contents of the RNA imaging toolbox,7 highlighting recent advances and the challenges that will guide future research. Schepartz, Bewersdorf, and Toomre (Yale) focus on a family of molecules known as HIDE probes, new additions to the organelle imaging © 2017 American Chemical Society

Department of Chemistry, Yale University

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REFERENCES

(1) Schepartz, A. (2016) Building on 50 Years of Excellence Where Chemistry Meets Life Science. Biochemistry 55, 4997. (2) Schepartz, A. (2017) The New Biochemistry Editorial Team. Biochemistry 56, 4289−4290.

Special Issue: Seeing Into Cells Published: October 3, 2017 5161

DOI: 10.1021/acs.biochem.7b00909 Biochemistry 2017, 56, 5161−5162

Biochemistry

Editorial

(3) Schepartz, A. (2017) Yes, Biochemistry Now Publishes Communications and Something NewFrom the Bench. Biochemistry 56, 2863−2864. (4) Lavis, L. D. (2017) Chemistry is Dead. Long Live Chemistry! Biochemistry, DOI: 10.1021/acs.biochem.7b00529. (5) Kulkarni, R. U., and Miller, E. W. (2017) Voltage Imaging: Pitfalls and Potential. Biochemistry, DOI: 10.1021/acs.biochem.7b00490. (6) Rathbun, C. M., and Prescher, J. A. (2017) Bioluminescent Probes for Imaging Biology beyond the Culture Dish. Biochemistry, DOI: 10.1021/acs.biochem.7b00435. (7) Alexander, S. C., and Devaraj, N. K. (2017) Developing a Fluorescent Toolbox To Shed Light on the Mysteries of RNA. Biochemistry, DOI: 10.1021/acs.biochem.7b00510. (8) Thompson, A. D., Bewersdorf, J., Toomre, D., and Schepartz, A. (2017) HIDE Probes: A New Toolkit for Visualizing Organelle Dynamics, Longer and at Super-Resolution. Biochemistry, DOI: 10.1021/acs.biochem.7b00545. (9) To, T.-L., and Shu, X. (2017) Detecting activity across length scales: from subcellular activity to whole-animal activity. Biochemistry, DOI: 10.1021/acs.biochem.7b00788. (10) Piraner, D. I., Farhadi, A., Davis, H. C., Wu, D., Maresca, D., Szablowski, J. O., and Shapiro, M. G. (2017) Going Deeper: Biomolecular Tools for Acoustic and Magnetic Imaging and Control of Cellular Function. Biochemistry, DOI: 10.1021/acs.biochem.7b00443. (11) Mehta, S., and Zhang, J. (2017) Illuminating the Cell’s Biochemical Activity Architecture. Biochemistry, DOI: 10.1021/acs.biochem.7b00561. (12) Leippe, P., Leman, J. K., and Trauner, D. (2017) Specificity and Speed: Tethered Photopharmacology. Biochemistry, DOI: 10.1021/ acs.biochem.7b00687.

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DOI: 10.1021/acs.biochem.7b00909 Biochemistry 2017, 56, 5161−5162