PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Sara H. Rouhanifard AU - Ian A. Mellis AU - Margaret Dunagin AU - Sareh Bayatpour AU - Orsolya Symmons AU - Allison Cote AU - Arjun Raj TI - Exponential fluorescent amplification of individual RNAs using clampFISH probes AID - 10.1101/222794 DP - 2018 Jan 01 TA - bioRxiv PG - 222794 4099 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/05/07/222794.short 4100 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/05/07/222794.full AB - Non-enzymatic, high-gain signal amplification methods with single-cell, single-molecule resolution are in great need. We present click-amplifying FISH (clampFISH) for the fluorescent detection of RNA that combines the specificity of oligonucleotides with bioorthogonal click chemistry in order to achieve high specificity and extremely high-gain (>400x) signal amplification. We show that clampFISH signal enables detection with low magnification microscopy and separation of cells by RNA levels via flow cytometry. Additionally, we show that the modular design of clampFISH probes enables multiplexing, that the locking mechanism prevents probe detachment in expansion microscopy, and that clampFISH works in tissue samples.