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The use of Phosphorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy (PLIM) to visualise G-quadruplexes in live and fixed cells using a novel PLIM probe.

Published in Chemical Science, in a collaboration with the Kuimova group, this paper reports the development of new platinum(II) complexes capable of detecting and visualising G-quadruplex (G4) DNA structures in living cells. G-quadruplexes are non-canonical DNA structures with important roles in gene regulation, but their dynamic nature makes them difficult to image reliably.

The team synthesised three new platinum complexes and found that one exhibits a distinct change in phosphorescence lifetime upon binding G4 DNA, different from its response to standard double-stranded DNA. Importantly, the probe uses emission lifetime rather than intensity as a readout, which allows for identification of G4 structures against a background of the much more abundant duplex DNA. Using Phosphorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy (PLIM), the authors demonstrated selective G-quadruplex visualisation in both live and fixed cells.