Abstract
The bioluminescent visualization of individual mammalian cells usually requires the addition of a luciferin substrate. This chapter describes the microscopic imaging of single cells by their bioluminescence (BL) emission generated without an external luciferin. Imaging is based on the expression of codon-optimized lux (co lux) genes and does not require manipulation of the cells apart from transfection. Due to the high brightness of the co lux system, light emission from single cells can be observed continuously for many hours using a specialized microscope.
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Acknowledgments
I thank Prof. Stefan W. Hell for the opportunity to carry out this work in his department at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen. This work was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under Germany’s Excellence Strategy - EXC 2067/1- 390729940.
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Gregor, C. (2022). Imaging of Autonomous Bioluminescence Emission From Single Mammalian Cells. In: Kim, SB. (eds) Bioluminescence. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2524. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-2453-1_12
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-2453-1_12
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