In Situ Visualization of Proteins in Single Cells by Time-of-Flight–Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry Coupled with Genetically Encoded Chemical Tags

In situ visualization of proteins of interest in single cells is attractive in cell biology, molecular biology, and biomedicine fields. Time-of-flight-secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) is a powerful tool for imaging small organic molecules in single cells, yet difficult to image biomacromolecules such as proteins and DNA. Herein, a universal strategy is reported to image specific proteins in single cells by ToF-SIMS following genetic incorporation of fluorine-containing unnatural amino acids as a chemical tag into the proteins via a genetic code expansion technique. The method was developed and validated by imaging a green fluorescence protein (GFP) in Escherichia coli (E. coli) and human HeLa cancer cells and then utilized to visualize the characteristic polar distribution of chemotaxis protein CheA in E. coli cells and the interaction between high-mobility group box 1 protein and cisplatin-damaged DNA in HeLa cells. The present work highlights the power of ToF-SIMS imaging combined with genetically encoded chemical tags for in situ visualization of specific proteins as well as the interactions between proteins and drugs or drug-damaged DNA in single cells.