Photophysics of Fluorescence Probes for Single Molecule Biophysics and Super-Resolution Imaging

By T. Ha, Philip Tinnefeld. Annual review of physical chemistry (Print), 2012

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Single-molecule fluorescence spectroscopy and super-resolution microscopy are important elements of the ongoing technical revolution to reveal biochemical and cellular processes in unprecedented clarity and precision. Demands placed on the photophysical properties of the fluorophores are stringent and drive the choice of appropriate probes. Such fluorophores are not simple light bulbs of certain color and brightness but instead have their own ‘personalities’ regarding spectroscopic parameters, redox properties, size and water solubility, photostability and several more. Here, we review the photophysics of fluorescent probes, both organic fluorophores and fluorescent proteins, used in applications such as particle tracking, single molecule FRET, stoichiometry determination, and super-resolution imaging. Of particular interest is the thiol-induced blinking of Cy5, a curse for single molecule biophysical studies which was later overcome using Trolox through reducing/oxidizing system, but a boon for super-resolution imaging due to the controllable photoswitching. Understanding photophysics is critical in design and interpreting single molecule experiments.

Subfields: Biophysics, Molecular Biology, Structural Biology

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