Violacein as a genetically-controlled, enzymatically amplified and photobleaching-resistant chromophore for optoacoustic bacterial imaging

摘要: There is growing interest in genetically expressed reporters for vivo studies of bacterial colonization the context infectious disease research, microbiome or cancer imaging and treatment. To empower non-invasive high-resolution tracking with deep tissue penetration, we herein use controlled biosynthesis deep-purple pigment Violacein as a photobleaching-resistant chromophore label optoacoustic (photoacoustic) near-infrared range. We demonstrate that Violacein-producing bacteria can be imaged high contrast-to-noise strongly vascularized xenografted murine tumors further observe shows anti-tumoral activity. Our experiments thus identify robust potential basic research future theranostic applications tumor targeting.