Short Photoswitchable Ceramides Enable Optical Control of Apoptosis

Morstein, Johannes; Kol, Matthijs; Novak, Alexander J. E.; Feng, Suihan; Khayyo, Shadi; Hinnah, Konstantin; Li-Purcell, Nasi; Pan, Grace; Williams, Benjamin M.; Riezman, Howard; Atilla-Gokcumen, G. Ekin; Holthuis, Joost C. M. and Trauner, Dirk (2021): Short Photoswitchable Ceramides Enable Optical Control of Apoptosis. In: ACS Chemical Biology, Vol. 16, No. 3: pp. 452-456

Abstract

We report short ceramide analogs that can be activated with light and further functionalized using azide-alkyne click chemistry. These molecules, termed scaCers, exhibit increased cell permeability compared to their long-chain analogs as demonstrated using mass spectrometry and imaging. Notably, scaCers enable optical control of apoptosis, which is not observed with long-chain variants. Additionally, they function as photo-switchable substrates for sphingomyelin synthase 2 (SMS2), exhibiting inverted light-dependence compared to their extended analogs.

• Item Type: Journal article
• Faculties: Chemistry and Pharmacy > Department of Chemistry
• Subjects: 500 Science > 540 Chemistry
• ISSN: 1554-8929
• Language: English