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Delivery of Proteins, Peptides or Cell-impermeable Small Molecules into Live Cells by Incubation with the Endosomolytic Reagent dfTAT

Macromolecular delivery strategies typically utilize the endocytic pathway as a route of cellular entry. However, endosomal entrapment severely limits the ...

Texas A&M University

Drosophila melanogaster has proven to be a useful model system for the genetic analysis of ethanol-associated behaviors. However, past studies have focused on the response of the adult fly to large, and often sedating, doses of ethanol. The pharmacological effects of low and moderate quantities of ethanol have remained understudied. In this study, we tested the acute effects of low doses of ethanol (∼7 mM internal concentration) on Drosophila larvae. While ethanol did not affect locomotion or the response to an odorant, we observed that ethanol impaired associative olfactory learning when the heat shock unconditioned stimulus (US) intensity was low but not when the heat shock US intensity was high. We determined that the reduction in learning at low US intensity was not a result of ethanol anesthesia since ethanol-treated larvae responded to the heat shock in the same manner as untreated animals. Instead, low doses of ethanol likely impair the neuronal plasticity that underlies olfactory associative learning. This impairment in learning was reversible indicating that exposure to low doses of ethanol does not leave any long lasting behavioral or physiological effects.

A low concentration of ethanol impairs learning but not motor and sensory behavior in Drosophila larvae.

We report that a tetramethylrhodamine-labeled dimer of the cell-penetrating peptide TAT, dfTAT, penetrates live cells by escaping from endosomes with high efficiency. By mediating endosomal leakage, dfTAT also delivers proteins into cultured cells after a simple co-incubation procedure. We achieved cytosolic delivery in several cell lines and primary cells and observed that only a relatively small amount of material remained trapped inside endosomes. Delivery did not require a binding interaction between dfTAT and a protein, multiple molecules could be delivered simultaneously, and delivery could be repeated. dfTAT-mediated delivery did not noticeably affect cell viability, cell proliferation or gene expression. dfTAT-based intracellular delivery should be useful for cell-based assays, cellular imaging applications and the ex vivo manipulation of cells.

Kristina Najjar

Biochemistry and Biophysics

Texas A&M University

Delivery of Proteins, Peptides or Cell-impermeable Small Molecules into Live Cells by Incubation with the Endosomolytic Reagent dfTAT

Kristina Najjar

.css-o250i3{font-size:18px;font-family:Open Sans,sans-serif;line-height:21.6px;}Biochemistry and Biophysics

Texas A&M University

Delivery of Proteins, Peptides or Cell-impermeable Small Molecules into Live Cells by Incubation with the Endosomolytic Reagent dfTAT

Biochemistry and Biophysics