Glogger M, Wang D, Kompa J, Balakrishnan A, Hiblot J, Barth HD, Johnsson K, Heilemann M. Synergizing Exchangeable Fluorophore Labels for Multitarget STED Microscopy.
ACS Nano 2022;
16:17991-17997. [PMID:
36223885 PMCID:
PMC9706782 DOI:
10.1021/acsnano.2c07212]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2022] [Accepted: 09/12/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Investigating the interplay of cellular proteins with optical microscopy requires multitarget labeling. Spectral multiplexing using high-affinity or covalent labels is limited in the number of fluorophores that can be discriminated in a single imaging experiment. Advanced microscopy methods such as STED microscopy additionally demand balanced excitation, depletion, and emission wavelengths for all fluorophores, further reducing multiplexing capabilities. Noncovalent, weak-affinity labels bypass this "spectral barrier" through label exchange and sequential imaging of different targets. Here, we combine exchangeable HaloTag ligands, weak-affinity DNA hybridization, and hydrophophic and protein-peptide interactions to increase labeling flexibility and demonstrate six-target STED microscopy in single cells. We further show that exchangeable labels reduce photobleaching as well as facilitate long acquisition times and multicolor live-cell and high-fidelity 3D STED microscopy. The synergy of different types of exchangeable labels increases the multiplexing capabilities in fluorescence microscopy, and by that, the information content of microscopy images.
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