Exploring dynamics in living cells by tracking single particles

LEVI V, GRATTON E

CELL BIOCHEMISTRY AND BIOPHYSICS

HUMANA PRESS INC

Año: 2007 vol. 48 p. 1 - 15

1085-9195

Abstract In the last years, significant advances inmicroscopy techniques and the introduction of a noveltechnology to label living cells with genetically encodedfluorescent proteins revolutionized the field ofCell Biology. Our understanding on cell dynamics builtfrom snapshots on fixed specimens has evolved thanksto our actual capability to monitor in real time theevolution of processes in living cells. Among these newtools, single particle tracking techniques were developedto observe and follow individual particles. Hence,we are starting to unravel the mechanisms driving themotion of a wide variety of cellular components rangingfrom organelles to protein molecules by followingtheir way through the cell. In this review, we introducethe single particle tracking technology to new users.We briefly describe the instrumentation and explainsome of the algorithms commonly used to locate andtrack particles. Also, we present some common toolsused to analyze trajectories and illustrate with someexamples the applications of single particle tracking tostudy dynamics in living cells.