Engineered acoustic reporter genes with differential responses to the pressure of sound waves enable multiplexed ultrasound imaging and visualization of different cell types deep inside optically opaque living tissues.
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References
Bourdeau, R. W. et al. Acoustic reporter genes for noninvasive imaging of microorganisms in mammalian hosts. Nature 553, 86–90 (2018). This paper demonstrates heterologous expression (expression in a species different from the native one) of gas vesicles as ARGs.
Farhadi, A. et al. Ultrasound imaging of gene expression in mammalian cells. Science 365, 1469–1475 (2019). This paper demonstrates heterologous expression of gas vesicles in mammalian cells.
Hurt, R. C. et al. Genomically mined acoustic reporter genes for real-time in vivo monitoring of tumors and tumor-homing bacteria. Nat. Biotechnol. 41, 919–931 (2023). This paper reports ARGs imaged non-destructively on ultrasonography.
Maresca, D. et al. Nonlinear X-wave ultrasound imaging of acoustic biomolecules. Phys. Rev. X 8, 041002 (2018). This paper establishes ultrasound imaging of gas vesicles that have been stripped of the GvpC protein.
Lakshmanan, A. et al. Acoustic biosensors for ultrasound imaging of enzyme activity. Nat. Chem. Biol. 16, 988–996 (2020). This article reports engineering of GvpC to respond to enzymatic activity, thereby modulating its signals.
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This is a summary of: Nyström, N. N. et al. Multiplexed ultrasound imaging of gene expression. Nat. Methods https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-025-02825-w (2025).
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Engineered acoustic reporters for simultaneous tracking of two variables on ultrasonography. Nat Methods 22, 2508–2509 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-025-02853-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-025-02853-6
