PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Anand Saminathan
AU  - John Devany
AU  - Kavya S. Pillai
AU  - Aneesh T. Veetil
AU  - Michael Schwake
AU  - Yamuna Krishnan
TI  - A DNA-based voltmeter for organelles
AID  - 10.1101/523019
DP  - 2019 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 523019
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/01/16/523019.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/01/16/523019.full
AB  - The role of membrane potential in most intracellular organelles remains unexplored because of the lack of suitable probes. We describe a DNA-based fluorescent reporter that quantitates membrane potential and can be targeted to specific organelles in live cells. It is equipped with a voltage sensitive fluorophore, a reference fluorophore for ratiometric quantification, and acts as an endocytic tracer. We could thereby measure the membrane potential of different intracellular organelles in living cells, which has not been possible previously. Our understanding of how membrane potential regulates organelle biology is poised to expand through the use of these new sensors.One Sentence Summary Using a DNA-based voltmeter we can non-invasively measure the membrane potential of specific organelles in live cells.