Recent Advances in Fluorescent Labeling Techniques for Fluorescence Microscopy

Tremendous progress in recent computer-controlled systems for fluorescence and laser-confocal microscopy has provided us with powerful tools to visualize and analyze molecular events in the cells. Various fluorescent staining and labeling techniques have also been developed to be used with these powerful instruments. Fluorescent proteins such as green fluorescent protein (GFP) allow us to directly label particular proteins of interest in living cells. This technique has been extended over a large area of cell biology, and a variety of fluorescent protein-derived techniques have been developed to visualize the functions and conditions of the molecules within living cells. In this review, we summarize the techniques for fluorescent staining and labeling for recent fluorescence microscopy.