The organization of macromolecular structures is the missing link in our understanding of the properties of proteins and biological function. The need to find the detailed relationship between biological function and macromolecular structure is, thus, undisputed in almost all areas of biology. The introduction of green fluorescent protein (GFP) has made it possible to study structure-function relationships at the cellular level and started a revolution in cell biology. However, only electron microscopy (EM) provides sufficient resolution to study the organization of macromolecular structures, and the lack of a reporter gene for EM has hampered genetic approaches in fine structural research for decades. Recently, we introduced horseradish peroxidase (HRP) cDNA as a genetic marker that can label entire neurons without destroying the fine structure. This marker, together with modern EM approaches (e.g., high resolution electron tomography), has a great potential to advance the field of neuroscience and all areas of cell biology by expanding our knowledge of macromolecular organization.
| Cruz-Lopez, Didiana; Ramos, Dianne; Castilloveitia, Gloria et al. (2018) Quintuple labeling in the electron microscope with genetically encoded enhanced horseradish peroxidase. PLoS One 13:e0200693 |
| Pasaoglu, Taliha; Schikorski, Thomas (2016) Presynaptic size of associational/commissural CA3 synapses is controlled by fibroblast growth factor 22 in adult mice. Hippocampus 26:151-60 |
| Schikorski, Thomas (2010) Pre-embedding immunogold localization of antigens in mammalian brain slices. Methods Mol Biol 657:133-44 |
| Schikorski, Thomas (2010) Horseradish peroxidase as a reporter gene and as a cell-organelle-specific marker in correlative light-electron microscopy. Methods Mol Biol 657:315-27 |
| Schikorski, Thomas (2010) Monitoring rapid endocytosis in the electron microscope via photoconversion of vesicles fluorescently labeled with FM1-43. Methods Mol Biol 657:329-46 |
