Alkene-tetrazine ligation for imaging cellular DNA.

5-Vinyl-2'-deoxyuridine (VdU) is the first reported metabolic probe for cellular DNA synthesis that can be visualized by using an inverse electron demand Diels-Alder reaction with a fluorescent tetrazine. VdU is incorporated by endogenous enzymes into the genomes of replicating cells, where it exhibits reduced genotoxicity compared to 5-ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine (EdU). The VdU-tetrazine ligation reaction is rapid (k≈0.02 M(-1) s(-1)) and chemically orthogonal to the alkyne-azide "click" reaction of EdU-modified DNA. Alkene-tetrazine ligation reactions provide the first alternative to azide-alkyne click reactions for the bioorthogonal chemical labeling of nucleic acids in cells and facilitate time-resolved, multicolor labeling of DNA synthesis.