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Molecular Beacons: Powerful Tools for Imaging RNA in Living Cells

Recent advances in RNA functional studies highlights the pivotal role of these molecules in cell physiology. Diverse methods have been implemented to measure the expression levels of various RNA species, using either purified RNA or fixed cells. Despite the fact that fixed cells offer the possibilit...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Monroy-Contreras, Ricardo, Vaca, Luis
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: SAGE-Hindawi Access to Research 2011
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3163130/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21876785
http://dx.doi.org/10.4061/2011/741723
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author Monroy-Contreras, Ricardo
Vaca, Luis
author_facet Monroy-Contreras, Ricardo
Vaca, Luis
author_sort Monroy-Contreras, Ricardo
collection PubMed
description Recent advances in RNA functional studies highlights the pivotal role of these molecules in cell physiology. Diverse methods have been implemented to measure the expression levels of various RNA species, using either purified RNA or fixed cells. Despite the fact that fixed cells offer the possibility to observe the spatial distribution of RNA, assays with capability to real-time monitoring RNA transport into living cells are needed to further understand the role of RNA dynamics in cellular functions. Molecular beacons (MBs) are stem-loop hairpin-structured oligonucleotides equipped with a fluorescence quencher at one end and a fluorescent dye (also called reporter or fluorophore) at the opposite end. This structure permits that MB in the absence of their target complementary sequence do not fluoresce. Upon binding to targets, MBs emit fluorescence, due to the spatial separation of the quencher and the reporter. Molecular beacons are promising probes for the development of RNA imaging techniques; nevertheless much work remains to be done in order to obtain a robust technology for imaging various RNA molecules together in real time and in living cells. The present work concentrates on the different requirements needed to use successfully MB for cellular studies, summarizing recent advances in this area.
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spelling pubmed-31631302011-08-29 Molecular Beacons: Powerful Tools for Imaging RNA in Living Cells Monroy-Contreras, Ricardo Vaca, Luis J Nucleic Acids Review Article Recent advances in RNA functional studies highlights the pivotal role of these molecules in cell physiology. Diverse methods have been implemented to measure the expression levels of various RNA species, using either purified RNA or fixed cells. Despite the fact that fixed cells offer the possibility to observe the spatial distribution of RNA, assays with capability to real-time monitoring RNA transport into living cells are needed to further understand the role of RNA dynamics in cellular functions. Molecular beacons (MBs) are stem-loop hairpin-structured oligonucleotides equipped with a fluorescence quencher at one end and a fluorescent dye (also called reporter or fluorophore) at the opposite end. This structure permits that MB in the absence of their target complementary sequence do not fluoresce. Upon binding to targets, MBs emit fluorescence, due to the spatial separation of the quencher and the reporter. Molecular beacons are promising probes for the development of RNA imaging techniques; nevertheless much work remains to be done in order to obtain a robust technology for imaging various RNA molecules together in real time and in living cells. The present work concentrates on the different requirements needed to use successfully MB for cellular studies, summarizing recent advances in this area. SAGE-Hindawi Access to Research 2011 2011-08-22 /pmc/articles/PMC3163130/ /pubmed/21876785 http://dx.doi.org/10.4061/2011/741723 Text en Copyright © 2011 R. Monroy-Contreras and L. Vaca. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Review Article
Monroy-Contreras, Ricardo
Vaca, Luis
Molecular Beacons: Powerful Tools for Imaging RNA in Living Cells
title Molecular Beacons: Powerful Tools for Imaging RNA in Living Cells
title_full Molecular Beacons: Powerful Tools for Imaging RNA in Living Cells
title_fullStr Molecular Beacons: Powerful Tools for Imaging RNA in Living Cells
title_full_unstemmed Molecular Beacons: Powerful Tools for Imaging RNA in Living Cells
title_short Molecular Beacons: Powerful Tools for Imaging RNA in Living Cells
title_sort molecular beacons: powerful tools for imaging rna in living cells
topic Review Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3163130/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21876785
http://dx.doi.org/10.4061/2011/741723
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