Imaging intracellular fluorescent proteins at nanometer resolution

Eric Betzig*, George H. Patterson, Rachid Sougrat, O. Wolf Lindwasser, Scott Olenych, Juan S. Bonifacino, Michael W. Davidson, Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz, Harald F. Hess

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7035 Scopus citations

Abstract

We introduce a method for optically imaging intracellular proteins at nanometer spatial resolution. Numerous sparse subsets of photoactivatable fluorescent protein molecules were activated, localized (to ∼2 to 25 nanometers), and then bleached. The aggregate position information from all subsets was then assembled into a superresolution image. We used this method-termed photoactivated localization microscopy-to image specific target proteins in thin sections of lysosomes and mitochondria; in fixed whole cells, we imaged vinculin at focal adhesions, actin within a lamellipodium, and the distribution of the retroviral protein Gag at the plasma membrane.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1642-1645
Number of pages4
JournalSCIENCE
Volume313
Issue number5793
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 15 2006
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General

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