Probes for Staining Specific Cellular Organelles

Abstract

Many research projects require the localization of certain cellular structures, especially organelles. Specific organelle markers (endoplasmic reticulum, golgi apparatus, endosomes, lysosomes, nucleus, plasma membrane, mitochondria, peroxisome and centromer) including antibodies to organelle-specific proteins are helpful to locate these organelles by immunocytochemical or histological techniques. Many of the fluorescent probes designed for selecting organelles are able to permeate or sequester within the cell membrane (and therefore are useful in living cells), while others must be installed using monoclonal antibodies with traditional immunocytochemistry techniques (http://probes.invitrogen.com/handbook). The website http://www.organell-marker.de/powered by Acris Antibodies GmbH (Herford, Germany; http://www.acris-antibodies.com/) simplifies the search for organelle markers.