Single mRNA tracking in live cells
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Updated: Jun 11, 2026

Real-time Imaging of Single Engineered RNA Transcripts in Living Cells Using Ratiometric Bimolecular Beacons
Published on: August 6, 2014
Hye Yoon Park1, Adina R Buxbaum, Robert H Singer
1Anatomy and Structural Biology and Gruss-Lipper Biophotonics Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, USA.
Abstract:
Asymmetric distribution of mRNA is a prevalent phenomenon observed in diverse cell types. The posttranscriptional movement and localization of mRNA provides an important mechanism to target certain proteins to specific cytoplasmic regions of their function. Recent technical advances have enabled real-time visualization of single mRNA molecules in living cells. Studies analyzing the motion of individual mRNAs have shed light on the complex RNA transport system. This chapter presents an overview of general approaches for single particle tracking and some methodologies that are used for single mRNA detection.

