Laboratoire Kastler Brossel, CNRS Unité de recherche 8552, Physics and Biology Department, Ecole normale supérieure, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris 6, Paris, France.
Nat Methods. 2010 Apr;7(4):275-85. doi: 10.1038/nmeth.1444. Epub 2010 Mar 30.
Monitoring the behavior of single molecules in living cells is a powerful approach to investigate the details of cellular processes. Owing to their optical, chemical and biofunctional properties, semiconductor quantum dot (QD) probes promise to be tools of choice in this endeavor. Here we review recent advances that allow ever more controlled experiments at the single-nanoparticle level in live cells. Several examples, related to membrane dynamics, cell signaling or intracellular transport, illustrate how single QD tracking can be readily used to decipher complex biological processes and address key concepts that underlie cellular organization and dynamics.
监测活细胞中单分子的行为是研究细胞过程细节的一种有力方法。由于半导体量子点 (QD) 探针具有光学、化学和生物功能特性，因此有望成为这一领域的首选工具。在这里，我们回顾了最近的进展，这些进展使得在活细胞中单纳米粒子水平上进行更可控的实验成为可能。几个与膜动力学、细胞信号转导或细胞内运输相关的例子说明了如何通过单 QD 跟踪来轻松破译复杂的生物过程，并解决细胞组织和动力学的基础关键概念。
