%0 Journal Article %A Jonathan B. Grimm %A Brian P. English %A Heejun Choi %A Anand K. Muthusamy %A Brian P. Mehl %A Peng Dong %A Timothy A. Brown %A Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz %A Zhe Liu %A Timothée Lionnet %A Luke D. Lavis %T Bright photoactivatable fluorophores for single-molecule imaging %D 2016 %R 10.1101/066779 %J bioRxiv %P 066779 %X Small molecule fluorophores are important tools for advanced imaging experiments. The development of self-labeling protein tags such as the HaloTag and SNAP-tag has expanded the utility of chemical dyes in live-cell microscopy. We recently described a general method for improving the brightness and photostability of small, cell-permeable fluorophores, resulting in the novel azetidine-containing “Janelia Fluor” (JF) dyes. Here, we refine and extend the utility of the JF dyes by synthesizing photoactivatable derivatives that are compatible with live-cell labeling strategies. These compounds retain the superior brightness of the JF dyes once activated, but their facile photoactivation also enables improved single-particle tracking and localization microscopy experiments. %U https://www.biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/early/2016/07/29/066779.full.pdf