Abstract
The imaging of living systems plays a key role in understanding biomechanics and overall living systems in depth. This chapter discusses various approaches to and the importance of the use of single-molecule imaging (SMI) in the context of systems biology and describes the technological issues that arise in this setting. An individual molecule may now be seen at work in real cells thanks to advances in SMI. The exponentially increasing use of this method allows the assessment of non-invasive numerical properties of cellular processes, e.g. the number of molecules, response rate constants, and coefficients of diffusion, with geographical disseminations and progressive variations. Such a level of detail regarding unitary intracellular reactions is critical to developing quantitative reaction network models and providing a grasp of the mechanisms at the systems level behind diverse cellular activities.
Publisher
Royal Society of Chemistry