Patterson, GeorgeDavidson, MichaelManley, SulianaLippincott-Schwartz, Jennifer2011-12-162011-12-162011-12-16201010.1146/annurev.physchem.012809.103444https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/75449WOS:000277960500017Superresolution imaging is a rapidly emerging new field of microscopy that dramatically improves the spatial resolution of light microscopy by over an order of magnitude (similar to 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.superresolution microscopysingle moleculePalmStormFpalmdiffraction limitphotoactivationphotoactivatable fluorescent proteinfluorescence imagingGreen Fluorescent ProteinStructured-Illumination MicroscopyOptical Reconstruction MicroscopyHand-Over-HandLiving CellsDiffraction-LimitQuantum DotsIn-Vivo3-Dimensional SuperresolutionLive Cellstext::journal::journal article::review article