Skip to main content

Design, Labeling, and Application of Probes for RNA smFISH

  • Protocol
  • First Online:
Alternative Splicing

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 2537))

Abstract

Visualization of single mRNA molecules in fixed cells can be achieved using single molecule fluorescent in situ hybridization (smFISH). This approach enables accurate quantification of mRNA numbers and localization at a single-cell level. To ensure reliable results using smFISH, it is critical to use fluorescent probes that are highly specific to their RNA target. To facilitate probe design, we have created anglerFISH, a user-friendly command-line based pipeline. In this chapter, we present how to perform a smFISH experiment using user-designed and labeled probes.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Protocol
USD 49.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 249.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Chao JA, Lionnet T (2018) Imaging the life and death of mRNAs in single cells. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol 10:a032086

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Eliscovich C, Shenoy SM, Singer RH (2017) Imaging mRNA and protein interactions within neurons. Proc Natl Acad Sci 114

    Google Scholar 

  3. Skinner SO, Sepúlveda LA, Xu H et al (2013) Measuring mRNA copy number in individual Escherichia coli cells using single-molecule fluorescent in situ hybridization. Nat Protoc 8:1100–1113

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Yang L, Titlow J, Ennis D et al (2017) Single molecule fluorescence in situ hybridisation for quantitating post-transcriptional regulation in Drosophila brains. Methods 126:166–176

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Long X, Colonell J, Wong AM et al (2017) Quantitative mRNA imaging throughout the entire Drosophila brain. Nat Methods 14:703–706

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Femino AM et al (1998) Visualization of single RNA transcripts in situ. Science 280:585–590

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Raj A, van den Bogaard P, Rifkin SA et al (2008) Imaging individual mRNA molecules using multiple singly labeled probes. Nat Methods 5:877–879

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Battich N, Stoeger T, Pelkmans L (2013) Image-based transcriptomics in thousands of single human cells at single-molecule resolution. Nat Methods 10:1127–1133

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Xia C, Fan J, Emanuel G et al (2019) Spatial transcriptome profiling by MERFISH reveals subcellular RNA compartmentalization and cell cycle-dependent gene expression. Proc Natl Acad Sci 116:19490–19499

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Piskadlo E, Eichenberger B (2021) anglerFISH: initial anglerFISH release. Zenodo 4427720

    Google Scholar 

  11. Tommaso PD, Chatzou M, Floden EW et al (2017) Nextflow enables reproducible computational workflows. Nat Biotechnol 35:316–319

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Beliveau BJ, Kishi JY, Nir G et al (2018) OligoMiner provides a rapid, flexible environment for the design of genome-scale oligonucleotide in situ hybridization probes. Proc Natl Acad Sci 115

    Google Scholar 

  13. Marçais G, Kingsford C (2011) A fast, lock-free approach for efficient parallel counting of occurrences of k-mers. Bioinformatics 27:764–770

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Kim D, Paggi JM, Park C et al (2019) Graph-based genome alignment and genotyping with HISAT2 and HISAT-genotype. Nat Biotechnol 37:907–915

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Zadeh JN, Steenberg CD, Bois JS et al (2010) NUPACK: analysis and design of nucleic acid systems. J Comput Chem 32:170–173

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Gaspar I, Wippich F, Ephrussi A (2017) Enzymatic production of single-molecule FISH and RNA capture probes. RNA 23:1582–1591

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank all the members of the Chao lab and the Giorgetti lab for their support in establishing the probe designing and experimental pipeline. We thank Daniel Mateju for critically reading the manuscript. In addition, we thank the Facility for Advanced Imaging and Microscopy at FMI for help in image acquisition. Research in the Chao lab is funded by the Novartis Research Foundation, the Swiss National Science Foundation (310031A_182314) and the SNF NCCR RNA & Disease network. Research in the Giorgetti lab is funded by the Novartis Research Foundation and the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation (grant agreement no. 759366, ‘BioMeTre’).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jeffrey A. Chao .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature

About this protocol

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this protocol

Piskadlo, E., Eichenberger, B.T., Giorgetti, L., Chao, J.A. (2022). Design, Labeling, and Application of Probes for RNA smFISH. In: Scheiffele, P., Mauger, O. (eds) Alternative Splicing. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2537. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-2521-7_10

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-2521-7_10

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Humana, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-0716-2520-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-0716-2521-7

  • eBook Packages: Springer Protocols

Publish with us

Policies and ethics