Superresolution imaging using single-molecule localization.
Superresolution imaging is a rapidly emerging new field of microscopy that dramatically improves the spatial resolution of light microscopy by over an order of magnitude (approximately 10-20-nm resolution), allowing biological processes to be described at the molecular scale. Here, we discuss a form of superresolution microscopy based on the controlled activation and sampling of sparse subsets of photoconvertible fluorescent molecules. In this single-molecule-based imaging approach, a wide variety of probes have proved valuable, ranging from genetically encodable photoactivatable fluorescent proteins to photoswitchable cyanine dyes. These have been used in diverse applications of superresolution imaging: from three-dimensional, multicolor molecule localization to tracking of nanometric structures and molecules in living cells. Single-molecule-based superresolution imaging thus offers exciting possibilities for obtaining molecular-scale information on biological events occurring at variable timescales.
Patterson
George
G
Biophotonics Section, National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA.
Davidson
Michael
M
Manley
Suliana
S
Lippincott-Schwartz
Jennifer
J
D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; D008164:Luminescent Proteins / Q000737:chemistry; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence / Q000379:methods*; D008859:Microscopy, Polarization / Q000379:methods
D008164:Luminescent Proteins