Fluorescein Derivatives as Bifunctional Molecules for the Simultaneous Inhibiting and Labeling of FTO Protein

The FTO protein is unequivocally reported to play a critical role in human obesity and in the regulation of cellular levels of m6A modification, which makes FTO a significant and worthy subject of study. Here, we identified that fluorescein derivatives can selectively inhibit FTO demethylation, and the mechanisms behind these activities were elucidated after we determined the X-ray crystal structures of FTO/fluorescein and FTO/5-aminofluorescein. Furthermore, these inhibitors can also be applied to the direct labeling and enrichment of FTO protein combined with photoaffinity labeling assay.