Christopher R. Otey

Directed evolution of a magnetic resonance imaging contrast agent for noninvasive imaging of dopamine

The development of molecular probes that allow in vivo imaging of neural signaling processes with high temporal and spatial resolution remains challenging. Here we applied directed evolution techniques to create magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents sensitive to the neurotransmitter dopamine. The sensors were derived from the heme domain of the bacterial cytochrome P450-BM3 (BM3h). Ligand binding to a site near BM3hs paramagnetic heme iron led to a drop in MRI signal enhancement and a shift in optical absorbance. Using an absorbance-based screen, we evolved the specificity of BM3h away from its natural ligand and toward dopamine, producing sensors with dissociation constants for dopamine of 3.3–8.9 μM. These molecules were used to image depolarization-triggered neurotransmitter release from PC12 cells and in the brains of live animals. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of molecular-level functional MRI using neural activity–dependent sensors, and our protein engineering approach can be generalized to create probes for other targets.

Cost-Effective Whole-Cell Assay for Laboratory Evolution of Hydroxylases in Escherichia coli

Cytochrome P450 BM-3 from Bacillus megaterium catalyzes the subterminal hydroxylation of medium- and long-chain fatty acids at the to-1, w-2, and c-3 positions. A continuous spectrophotometric assay for P450 BM-3 based on the conversion of p-nitrophenoxycarboxylic acids (pNCA) to co-oxycarboxylic acids and the chromophore p-nitrophenolate was reported recently. However, this pNCA assay procedure contained steps that limited its application in high throughput screening, including expression of P450 BM-3 variant F87A in 4-ml cultures, centrifugation, resuspension of the cell pellet, and cell lysis. We have shown that permeabilization of the outer membrane of Escherichia coli DH5a with polymyxin B sulfate, EDTA, polyethylenimine, or sodium hexametaphosphate results in rapid conversion of 12-pNCA. A NADPH-generating system consisting of NADP+, D/L-isocitric acid, and the D/L-isocitrate dehydrogenase of E. coli DH5a reduced the cofactor expense more than 10-fold. By avoiding cell lysis, re-suspension, and centrifugation, the high throughput protocol allows screening of thousands of samples per day.