An automated tool for 3D tracking of single molecules in living cells

Abstract

Recently, tremendous improvements have been achieved in the precision of localization of single fluorescent molecules, allowing localization and tracking of biomolecules at the nm level. Since the behaviour of proteins and biological molecules is tightly influenced by the cell’s environment, a growing number of microscopy techniques are moving from in vitro to live cell experiments. Looking at both diffusion and active transportation processes inside a cell requires three-dimensional localization over a few microns range, high SNR images and high temporal resolution (ms order of magnitude). To satisfy these requirements we developed an automated routine that allow 3D tracking of single fluorescent molecules in living cells with nanometer accuracy, by exploiting the properties of the point-spread-function of out-of-focus Quantum Dots bound to the protein of interest.