Left-handed DNA-PAINT for improved super-resolution imaging in the nucleus.

DNA point accumulation in nanoscale topography (DNA-PAINT) increases the resolution and multiplexing capabilities of super-resolution imaging, but cellular DNA interferes with DNA-DNA hybridization between target and probe in the nucleus. Here, we introduce left-handed DNA (L-DNA) oligomers that do not hybridize to natural right-handed DNA (R-DNA) and demonstrate that L-DNA-PAINT has the same specificity and multiplexing capability as R-DNA-PAINT, but improves the imaging of nuclear targets by substantially reducing background signal.