MINFLUX nanoscopy delivers 3D multicolor nanometer resolution in cells

Authors:

Gwosch, K. C., Pape, J. K., Balzarotti, F., Hoess, P., Ellenberg, J., Ries, J., & Hell, S. W.

Keywords:

MINFLUX

Abstract:

The ultimate goal of biological super-resolution fluorescence microscopy is to provide three-dimensional resolution at the size scale of a fluorescent marker. Here we show that by localizing individual switchable fluorophores with a probing donut-shaped excitation beam, MINFLUX nanoscopy can provide resolutions in the range of 1 to 3 nm for structures in fixed and living cells. This progress has been facilitated by approaching each fluorophore iteratively with the probing-donut minimum, making the resolution essentially uniform and isotropic over scalable fields of view. MINFLUX imaging of nuclear pore complexes of a mammalian cell shows that this true nanometer-scale resolution is obtained in three dimensions and in two color channels. Relying on fewer detected photons than standard camera-based localization, MINFLUX nanoscopy is poised to open a new chapter in the imaging of protein complexes and distributions in fixed and living cells.

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