@article {70497,
	title = {De novo pan-rhodamine binders for fluorescence microscopy from mammalian cells to extremophiles},
	journal = {Cell},
	year = {2026},
	month = {2026 Sep 01},
	abstract = {<p>Summary Fluorescent imaging in live cells is a cornerstone of life sciences. While natural fluorescent proteins have been engineered to enhance individual features, no existing tag combines ideal properties into a single system: high brightness, reversible binding, compact size, and stability across diverse conditions. Here, we achieve this through de novo design of rhodamine binders (Rhobin). To harness the broad repertoire of rhodamine fluorophores, we developed a generalizable design strategy for a pan-rhodamine binder compatible with diverse wavelengths and applications. Rhobin enables live- and fixed-cell imaging of various subcellular targets in mammalian cells, showing brightness surpassing existing tags. Its reversible fluorophore binding supports super-resolution stimulated emission depletion (STED) and live-cell single-molecule imaging for extended durations compared with HaloTag. Beyond conventional systems, Rhobin enables live imaging of the extremophile Sulfolobus acidocaldarius at 75{\textdegree}C, previously inaccessible with current tags. Together, these results establish Rhobin as a versatile platform for next-generation imaging and biosensor design.</p>
},
	keywords = {Fluorescence microscopy, fluorescent tag, protein design, Rhodamines, single-molecule imaging, super-resolution imaging, thermophilic microorganisms},
	issn = {0092-8674},
	doi = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2026.08.007},
	url = {https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867426009347},
	author = {Yuda Chen and Klaus Yserentant and Kibeom Hong and Kehan Chen and Yiming Kuang and Robert S. Picardo and Arghya Bhowmick and Arthur Charles-Orszag and Samuel J. Lord and Lei Lu and Kaipeng Hou and Samuel I. Mann and Sagar Bhattacharya and Maggie Horst and Jonathan B. Grimm and Luke D. Lavis and R. Dyche Mullins and William F. DeGrado and Bo Huang}
}
