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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
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-025-02853-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-025-02853-6
