Squaraine Dyes Exhibit Spontaneous Fluorescence Blinking That Enables Live-Cell Nanoscopy.

ABSTRACT: Hampered by their susceptibility to nucleophilic attack and chemical bleaching, electron-deficient squaraine dyes have long been considered unsuitable for biological imaging. This study unveils a surprising twist: in aqueous environments, bleaching is not irreversible but rather a reversible spontaneous quenching process. Leveraging this new discovery, we introduce a novel deep-red squaraine probe tailored for live-cell super-resolution imaging. This probe enables single-molecule localization microscopy (SMLM) under physiological conditions without harmful additives or intense lasers and exhibits spontaneous blinking orchestrated by biological nucleophiles, such as glutathione or hydroxide anion. With a low duty cycle (∼0.1%) and high-emission rate (∼6 × 10⁴ photons/s under 400

SUBMITTER: Zhao B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11458821 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature