Improving certainty in single molecule imaging

John Sh Danial; Ana J García-Sáez

doi:10.1016/j.sbi.2017.04.007

Improving certainty in single molecule imaging

Curr Opin Struct Biol. 2017 Oct:46:24-30. doi: 10.1016/j.sbi.2017.04.007. Epub 2017 May 5.

Authors

John Sh Danial¹, Ana J García-Sáez²

Affiliations

¹ Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Heisenbergstraße 3, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany; Interfaculty Institute of Biochemistry, University of Tübingen, Hoppe-Seyler-Straße 4, 72076 Tübingen, Germany.
² Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Heisenbergstraße 3, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany; Interfaculty Institute of Biochemistry, University of Tübingen, Hoppe-Seyler-Straße 4, 72076 Tübingen, Germany. Electronic address: ana.garcia@uni-tuebingen.de.

PMID: 28482279
DOI: 10.1016/j.sbi.2017.04.007

Abstract

The spatiotemporal organization of biological entities and the complex network of interactions they sponsor has proven challenging to visualize. Modern biophysics has brought a wealth of techniques for probing cellular structure and dynamics of which fluorescence-based single molecule detection has emerged as a powerful tool. In this review, we summarize notable breakthroughs in biological research based on single molecule imaging, identify prevailing shortcomings in single molecule detection and present current opinion on ameliorating some of its limitations for wider applicability.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer
Humans
Microscopy
Movement
Single Molecule Imaging / methods*