Visualization of mitochondrial DNA in living cells with super-resolution microscopy using thiophene-based terpyridine Zn(ii) complexes

• DOI: 10.1039/c8cc06276e
• Publication Date: 2018-09-13T07:35:13Z
• Authors: Yu Shen; Tao Shao; Bin Fang; Wei Du; Mingzhu Zhang; Jiejie Liu; Tianyan Liu; Xiaohe Tian; Qiong Zhang; Aidong Wang; Jiaxiang Yang; Jieying Wu; Yupeng Tian
• Keywords: Terpyridine

We present a thiophene-based terpyridine Zn(ii) complex (namely LC) which could specifically target live cell mitochondria via binding with mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). Due to its high biocompatibility, red emission and photo-stability, mtDNA distribution within cristae inner matrix in living cells was successfully visualized using stimulated depletion (STED) nanoscopy unprecedented resolution.