Arginine is one of the most metabolically versatile amino acids and plays pivotal roles in diverse biological and pathological processes; however, sensitive tracking of arginine dynamics in situ remains technically challenging. Here, we engineer high-performance fluorescent biosensors, denoted sensitive to arginine (STAR), to illuminate arginine metabolism in cells, mice, and clinical samples. Utilizing STAR, we demonstrate the effects of different amino acids in regulating intra- and extracellular arginine levels. STAR enabled live-cell monitoring of arginine fluctuations during macrophage activation, phagocytosis, efferocytosis, and senescence and revealed cellular senescence depending on arginine availability. Moreover, a simple and fast assay based on STAR revealed that serum arginine levels tended to increase with age, and the elevated serum arginine level is a potential indicator for discriminating the progression and severity of vitiligo. Collectively, our study provides important insights into the metabolic and functional roles of arginine, as well as its potential in diagnostic and therapeutic applications.

中文翻译：

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点亮精氨酸代谢揭示了其生理学和病理学的功能多样性


精氨酸是代谢功能最广的氨基酸之一，在多种生物和病理过程中起着关键作用;然而，原位对精氨酸动力学的灵敏跟踪在技术上仍然具有挑战性。在这里，我们设计了对精氨酸敏感 （STAR） 的高性能荧光生物传感器，以照亮细胞、小鼠和临床样品中的精氨酸代谢。利用 STAR，我们证明了不同氨基酸在调节细胞内和细胞外精氨酸水平方面的作用。STAR 能够对巨噬细胞活化、吞噬作用、胞吞作用和衰老过程中的精氨酸波动进行活细胞监测，并根据精氨酸的可用性揭示细胞衰老。此外，基于 STAR 的简单快速分析显示，血清精氨酸水平往往随着年龄的增长而升高，血清精氨酸水平升高是区分白癜风进展和严重程度的潜在指标。总的来说，我们的研究为精氨酸的代谢和功能作用及其在诊断和治疗应用中的潜力提供了重要的见解。