Department of Chemistry, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA.
Chembiochem. 2023 May 16;24(10):e202300049. doi: 10.1002/cbic.202300049. Epub 2023 Mar 29.
RNA function is increasingly appreciated to be more complex than merely communicating between DNA sequence and protein structure. RNA localization has emerged as a key contributor to the intricate roles RNA plays in the cell, and the link between dysregulated spatiotemporal localization and disease warrants an exploration beyond sequence and structure. However, the tools needed to visualize RNA with precise resolution are lacking in comparison to methods available for studying proteins. In the past decade, many techniques have been developed for imaging RNA, and in parallel super resolution and single-molecule techniques have enabled imaging of single molecules in cells. Of these methods, single molecule localization microscopy (SMLM) has shown significant promise for probing RNA localization. In this review, we highlight current approaches that allow super resolution imaging of specific RNA transcripts and summarize challenges and future opportunities for developing innovative RNA labeling methods that leverage the power of SMLM.
RNA 的功能远比仅仅在 DNA 序列和蛋白质结构之间传递信息复杂。RNA 的定位已经成为 RNA 在细胞中发挥复杂作用的关键因素，而失调的时空定位与疾病之间的联系需要超越序列和结构的探索。然而，与研究蛋白质的方法相比，用于精确解析 RNA 的可视化工具还很缺乏。在过去的十年中，已经开发出许多用于 RNA 成像的技术，并且在平行的超分辨率和单分子技术已经能够对细胞中的单个分子进行成像。在这些方法中，单分子定位显微镜（SMLM）在探测 RNA 定位方面显示出了很大的潜力。在这篇综述中，我们重点介绍了目前允许对特定 RNA 转录本进行超分辨率成像的方法，并总结了开发利用 SMLM 强大功能的创新 RNA 标记方法的挑战和未来机遇。
