Quantitative measurement of transcription rates in live cells is important for revealing mechanisms of transcriptional regulation. This is particularly challenging for measuring the activity of RNA polymerase III (Pol III), which transcribes growth-promoting small RNAs. To address this, we developed Corn, a genetically encoded fluorescent RNA reporter suitable for quantifying RNA transcription in cells. Corn binds and induces fluorescence of 3,5-difluoro-4-hydroxybenzylidene-imidazolinone-2-oxime, which resembles the fluorophore found in red fluorescent protein (RFP). Notably, Corn shows high photostability, enabling quantitative fluorescence imaging of mTOR-dependent Pol III transcription. Unlike actinomycin D, we found that mTOR inhibitors resulted in heterogeneous transcription suppression in individual cells. Quantitative imaging of Corn-tagged Pol III transcript levels revealed distinct Pol III transcription “trajectories” elicited by mTOR inhibition. Together, these studies provide an approach for quantitative measurements of Pol III transcription by direct imaging of Pol III transcripts containing a photostable RNA-fluorophore complex.

Spinach and Broccoli are fluorogenic RNA aptamers that bind DFHBI, a mimic of the chromophore in green fluorescent protein, and activate its fluorescence. Spinach/Broccoli‐DFHBI complexes exhibit high fluorescence in vitro, but they exhibit lower fluorescence in mammalian cells. Here, computational screening was used to identify BI, a DFHBI derivative that binds Broccoli with higher affinity and leads to markedly higher fluorescence in cells compared to previous ligands. BI prevents thermal unfolding of Broccoli at 37 °C, leading to more folded Broccoli and thus more fluorescent Broccoli‐BI complexes in cells. Broccoli‐BI complexes are more photostable owing to impaired photoisomerization and rapid unbinding of photoisomerized cis‐BI. These properties enable single mRNA containing 24 Broccoli aptamers to be imaged in live mammalian cells treated with BI. Small molecule ligands can thus promote RNA folding in cells, and thus allow single mRNA imaging with fluorogenic aptamers.

Natural membrane vesicles (MVs) derived from various types of cells play an essential role in transporting biological materials between cells. Here, we show that exogenous compounds are packaged in the MVs by engineering the parental cells via liposomes, and the MVs mediate autonomous intercellular migration of the compounds through multiple cancer cell layers. Hydrophobic compounds delivered selectively to the plasma membrane of cancer cells using synthetic membrane fusogenic liposomes were efficiently incorporated into the membrane of MVs secreted from the cells and then transferred to neighboring cells via the MVs. This liposome-mediated MV engineering strategy allowed hydrophobic photosensitizers to significantly penetrate both spheroids and in vivo tumors, thereby enhancing the therapeutic efficacy. These results suggest that innate biological transport systems can be in situ engineered via synthetic liposomes to guide the penetration of chemotherapeutics across challenging tissue barriers in solid tumors.

Fluorogenic RNA aptamers bind and activate the fluorescence of otherwise nonfluorescent dyes. However, fluorogenic aptamers are limited by the small number of fluorogenic dyes suitable for use in live cells. Here we describe fluorogenic proteins whose fluorescence is activated by RNA aptamers. Fluorogenic proteins are highly unstable until they bind RNA aptamers inserted in mRNAs, resulting in fluorescent RNA-protein complexes that enable live imaging of mRNA in living cells.

DNA and RNA can spontaneously self-assemble into various structures, including aggregates, complexes, and ordered structures. The self-assembly reactions cannot be genetically encoded to occur in living mammalian cells since the double-stranded nucleic acids generated by current self-assembly approaches are unstable and activate innate RNA immunity pathways. Here, we show that recently described dimeric aptamers can be used to create RNAs that self-assemble and create RNA and RNA–protein assemblies in cells. We find that incorporation of five copies of Corn, a dimeric fluorogenic RNA aptamer, into an RNA causes the RNA to form large clusters in cells, reflecting multivalent RNA–RNA interactions enabled by these RNAs. Here, we also describe a second dimeric fluorogenic aptamer, Beetroot, which shows partial sequence similarity to Corn. Both Corn and Beetroot form homodimers with themselves but do not form Corn–Beetroot heterodimers. We thus use Corn and Beetroot to encode distinct RNA–protein assemblies in the same cells. Overall, these studies provide an approach for inducing RNA self-assembly, enable multiplexing of distinct RNA assemblies in cells, and demonstrate that proteins can be recruited to RNA assemblies to genetically encode intracellular RNA–protein assemblies.