Single-molecule localization to study cytoskeletal structures, membrane complexes, and mechanosensors

In the last decades, a promising breakthrough in fluorescence imaging was represented by the advent of super-resolution microscopy (SRM). Super-resolution techniques recently became a popular method to study sub-cellular structures, providing a successful approach to observe cytoskeletal and focal adhesion proteins. Among the SR techniques, single-molecule localization microscopy plays a significant role due to its ability to unveil structures and molecular organizations in biological systems. Furthermore, since they provide information at the molecular level, these techniques are increasingly being used to study the stoichiometry and interaction between several membrane channel proteins and their accessory subunits. The aim of this review is to describe the single-molecule localization-based techniques and their applications relevant to cytoskeletal structures and membrane complexes in order to provide as future prospective an overall picture of their correlation with the mechanosensor channel expression and activity.