Figure 2.

Examples of single-molecule-based super-resolution imaging in biological applications. (a) The nucleoid-associated protein HU imaged at different stages in the cell cycle of asymmetrically dividing C. crescentus bacterial cells, by light-induced blinking of enhanced yellow fluorescent protein fusions. (b) A spindle-like apparatus of ParA is part of the asymmetric division machinery in C. crescentus bacterial cells. (c) Nuclear pore complexes (gp210 proteins) with eight-fold symmetrical subunits in isolated Xenopus laevis oocyte nuclear envelopes. (d) Cytosolic nanoscale fibrillar aggregates of mutant huntingtin exon 1 proteins inside intact neuronal model cells (PC12m). IB: inclusion body. Nu: nucleus (e) tdEos-tagged focal adhesion molecules (paxillin) imaged in 2D at 55-s time resolution in a live CHO cell. (f) Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) dynamics in live BS-C-1 cells. (left) A time-series of 10-sec STORM snapshots. Blue arrowheads: Tips of extending tubules. (middle) A composite image containing all these snapshots with each localization colored by its time of appearance according to the shown color map. (right) Distribution of the widths of ER tubules. Green bars: Newly extended tubules. Red bars: Old tubules that had already existed for at least 2 min. (g) Voltage-gated ion channels recognized by fluorescently-labeled saxitoxin ligands, imaged at 6 seconds / reconstruction. Spines are constantly extending and retracting from the extended neuritic process in the neuronal model cell PC12. Examples reproduced with permission from [35] (a), [38] (b), [40] (c), [44] (d), [31] (e), [51] (f), [46] (g).