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The diffraction limit of light taken by storm

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology volume 26, page 498 (2025)Cite this article

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Fluorescence microscopy has permeated modern biology, enabling the visualization of tiny structures within cells across various compartments and organelles. However, visualizing most cellular components, such as nucleosomes within chromatin fibres, requires overcoming the diffraction limit of light. According to an observation proposed by Ernst Karl Abbe over a century ago, any two points in a biological structure that are less than 200 nm apart will appear as a single point because their light distributions merge and cannot be distinguished.

“Rust et al. … cleverly devised a way to ‘trick’ the microscope’s eye and thereby break the diffraction limit of light”

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  1. Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, ICREA, Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Barcelona, Spain

    Maria Pia Cosma

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  1. Maria Pia Cosma
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Correspondence to Maria Pia Cosma.

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Cosma, M.P. The diffraction limit of light taken by storm. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 26, 498 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41580-025-00856-x

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