The ability of ultrasound to noninvasively transmit mechanical forces to cells presents an attractive opportunity for controlling cells remotely, which has a remarkable potential for applications in medicine and biotechnology. A major challenge in the development of such stimulation is the efficient coupling of mechanical stimuli with specific activation of processes in the cell. The latter can take place through the influx of calcium ions into the cell. This results in the activation of the phosphatase calcineurin, which dephosphorylates the nuclear factor of activated T-cells (NFAT). Translocation of the transcription factor into the nucleus activates the expression of genes under the control of NFAT transcription factor.
Anchoring of a synthetic transcription factor based on the regulatory domain of NFAT with the anchoring peptide KRϕ to the membrane significantly reduces the activation of the transcription of target genes during cellular rest. The analysis showed incomplete translocation of the transcription factor to the nucleus upon activation, which we attribute to stronger binding of the anchoring peptide to the membrane. In this work, we examined whether point mutations in the KRϕ peptide can improve the ratio of activation of the NFAT-dependent regulatory subunit in resting and excited states. Membrane anchoring of the KRϕ peptide and mutants was monitored by localization and activation of the NFAT-dependent regulatory subunit of the transcription factor associated with the KRϕ peptide. We prepared 16 mutants of the KRϕ peptide with altered charge and hydrophobicity. The peptide with 9+ charge ad F11L mutation provided low luciferase expression in unstimulated cells and a high ratio of luciferase expression in stimulated to unstimulated cells.
We also prepared a calcium-dependent switch for monitoring the action of ultrasound stimulation of cells. The switch on two antiparallel coiled helices linked by a sequence originating from EF-hand motifs that change conformation when the calcium concentration changes. Segments of the split reporter protein were located at the ends of the helices. We were able to detect the response to the change in the concentration of calcium ions using split luciferase, but not with split fluorescent protein.
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