B- and N-doped carbon dots by one-step microwave hydrothermal synthesis: tracking yeast status and imaging mechanism

BACKGROUND: Carbon dots (CDs) are widely used in cell imaging due to their excellent optical properties, biocompatibility and low toxicity. At present, most of the research on CDs focuses on biomedical application, while there are few studies on the application of microbial imaging. RESULTS: In this study, B- and N-doped carbon dots (BN-CDs) were prepared from citric acid, ethylenediamine, and boric acid by microwave hydrothermal method. Based on BN-CDs labeling yeast, the dead or living of yeast cell could be quickly identified, and their growth status could also be clearly observed. In order to further observe the morphology of yeast cell under different lethal methods, six methods were used to kill the cells and then used BN-CDs to label the cells for imaging. More remarkably, imaging of yeast cell with ultrasound and antibiotics was significantly different from other imaging due to the overflow of cell contents. In addition, the endocytosis mechanism of BN-CDs was investigated. The cellular uptake of BN-CDs is dose, time and partially energy-dependent along with the involvement of passive diffusion. The main mechanism of endocytosis is caveolae-mediated. CONCLUSION: BN-CDs can be used for long-term stable imaging of yeast, and the study provides basic research for applying CDs to microbiol imaging. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT: [Image: see text] SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12951-021-01211-w.