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Handbook of Single-Molecule Biophysics pp 1–18Cite as

Single-Molecule Fluorescent Particle Tracking

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Abstract

One of the most fascinating processes in biology is the directed movement of organisms, subcellular compartments, and single proteins. Tracking the cellular motion is of great interest to single-molecule biophysicists to understand the mechanism of wide variety of biological processes, from basic mechanism of molecular machines to protein--protein interactions. In the last two decades, random diffusion of proteins and lipids has been tracked under the fluorescence microscope to understand how they associate with their targeted molecules. However, cellular motility is not limited to diffusion of small particles. Many fundamental processes occur by discrete physical movements upon each enzymatic cycle. For example, motor proteins of cytoskeleton can transport intracellular cargoes by taking nanometer-sized steps along the linear tracks within the cell. Several high precision techniques have been developed to understand the working principles and kinetics of motors in a detailed manner. This chapter summarizes the recent advances in fluorescence microscopy techniques that allow high precision tracking of biological molecules.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departments of Physics and Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Ahmet Yildiz

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  1. Ahmet Yildiz
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Biophysik, Universität Linz, Altenberger Straße 69, Linz, 4040, Austria

    Peter Hinterdorfer

  2. Harvard Medical School, Harvard University, Longwood Ave. 250, Boston, 02115, U.S.A.

    Antoine Oijen

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Yildiz, A. (2009). Single-Molecule Fluorescent Particle Tracking. In: Hinterdorfer, P., Oijen, A. (eds) Handbook of Single-Molecule Biophysics. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-76497-9_1

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