title: Superresolution imaging using single-molecule localization.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Biophotonics Section, National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA.
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Patterson
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Davidson
authors.forename: Suliana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Manley
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lippincott-Schwartz
mesh_terms: D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; D008164:Luminescent Proteins / Q000737:chemistry; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence / Q000379:methods*; D008859:Microscopy, Polarization / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D008164:Luminescent Proteins