Self-Healing Dyes-Keeping the Promise?

J Phys Chem Lett. 2020 Jun 4;11(11):4462-4480. doi: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.9b03833. Epub 2020 May 28.

Abstract

Self-healing dyes have emerged as a new promising class of fluorescent labels. They consist of two units, a fluorescent dye and a photostabilizer. The latter heals whenever the fluorescent dye is in danger of taking a reaction pathway toward photobleaching. We describe the underlying concepts and summarize the developmental history and state-of-the-art, including latest applications in high-resolution microscopy, live-cell, and single-molecule imaging. We further discuss remaining limitations, which are (i) lower photostabilization of most self-healing dyes when compared to solution additives, (ii) limited mechanistic understanding on the influence of the biochemical environment and molecular oxygen on self-healing, and (iii) the lack of cheap and facile bioconjugation strategies. Finally, we provide ideas on how to further advance self-healing dyes, show new data on redox blinking caused by double-stranded DNA, and highlight forthcoming work on intramolecular photostabilization of fluorescent proteins.

MeSH terms

  • DNA
  • Fluorescent Dyes*
  • Luminescent Proteins
  • Microscopy, Fluorescence
  • Photobleaching

Substances

  • Fluorescent Dyes
  • Luminescent Proteins
  • DNA