Brief Communication abstract
Nature Methods 5, 877 - 879 (2008)
Published online: 21 September 2008 | doi:10.1038/nmeth.1253
Imaging individual mRNA molecules using multiple singly labeled probes
Arjun Raj1, Patrick van den Bogaard2, Scott A Rifkin1, Alexander van Oudenaarden1 & Sanjay Tyagi2
We describe a method for imaging individual mRNA molecules in fixed cells by probing each mRNA species with 48 or more short, singly labeled oligonucleotide probes. This makes each mRNA molecule visible as a computationally identifiable fluorescent spot by fluorescence microscopy. We demonstrate simultaneous detection of three mRNA species in single cells and mRNA detection in yeast, nematodes, fruit fly wing discs, and mammalian cell lines and neurons.
- Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
- Public Health Research Institute Center, New Jersey Medical School, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, 225 Warren Street, Newark, New Jersey 07103, USA.
Correspondence to: Arjun Raj1 e-mail: arjunraj@mit.edu
Correspondence to: Sanjay Tyagi2 e-mail: tyagisa@umdnj.edu
