To understand biological processes, it is necessary to reveal the molecular heterogeneity of cells by gaining access to the location and interaction of all biomolecules. Significant advances were achieved by super-resolution microscopy, but such methods are still far from reaching the multiplexing capacity of proteomics. Here, we introduce secondary label-based unlimited multiplexed DNA-PAINT (SUM-PAINT), a high-throughput imaging method that is capable of achieving virtually unlimited multiplexing at better than 15 nm resolution. Using SUM-PAINT, we generated 30-plex single-molecule resolved datasets in neurons and adapted omics-inspired analysis for data exploration. This allowed us to reveal the complexity of synaptic heterogeneity, leading to the discovery of a distinct synapse type. We not only provide a resource for researchers, but also an integrated acquisition and analysis workflow for comprehensive spatial proteomics at single-protein resolution.
FörderungenERC BMBF Max Planck Foundation Max Planck Society QBM graduate school IMPRS-ML graduate school European Union Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) Schram Stiftung Hightech Agenda Bayern Collaborative Research Center 1286 on Quantitative Synaptologie Gottingen, Germany F. Hoffmann-La Roche Helmholtz Association European Research Council