Virant, D. et al. Nat. Commun. 9, 930 (2018).

dSTORM is a super-resolution microscopy technique that offers nano-scale resolution for imaging of cellular structures. For dSTORM to achieve its full potential, the target of interest has to be labeled with fluorescent molecules at a high density. However, this often affects the assembly and function of the target protein. In addition, the size of conventional antibodies limits the achievable resolution of dSTORM. To address these issues, Virant et al. fused proteins of interest to a small peptide tag (BC2 tag) that does not interfere with normal protein function. For imaging, a high-affinity fluorescent nanobody (bivBC2-Nb) is applied that detects the protein tag. This tool also works in live cells and allows high-density labeling with minimal linkage errors and without disturbing protein function.