Target biomolecule | Method name | Chemical anchor(s) | Crosslinker(s) | Expansion factor (single round unless otherwise noted) | Commercial availability of the anchor(s) | References |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Proteins | proExM | Acryloyl-X, SE | N,N′-Methylenebisacrylamide | ~ 4–4.5× | Yes | [37] |
ExM compatible with conventional fluorescently labeled antibodies and fluorescent proteins | Methacrylic acid N-hydroxysuccinimide ester (MA-NHS), glutaldehyde (GA) | N,N′-Methylenebisacrylamide | ~ 4× | Yes | [38] | |
MAP | Acrylamide and formaldehyde | N,N′-Methylenebisacrylamide | ~ 4× | Yes | [45] | |
Original ExM/iExM | Acrydite-modified oligonucleotides | N,N′-Methylenebisacrylamide, N,N′-(1,2-dihydroxyethylene) bisacrylamide (DHEBA), N,N′-bis(acryloyl)cystamine (BAC) | ~ 4.5–5.5×, ~ 16–22× (two rounds), ~ 53× (three rounds) | No | ||
pan-ExM | Acrylamide and formaldehyde | N,N′-(1,2-dihydroxyethylene) bisacrylamide (DHEBA), N,N′-methylenebisacrylamide | ~ 3.8–4×, ~ 13–21× (two rounds) | Yes | [47] | |
TREx | Acryloyl-X, SE | N,N′-Methylenebisacrylamide | ~ 10× | Yes | [48] | |
X10 ExM | Acryloyl-X, SE | N,N-Dimethylacrylamide (DMAA) | ~ 9.5×–11.5× | Yes | ||
NIFS hydrogel | MA-NHS | N,N-Ethylenebisacrylamide (EBIS) | ~ 9× | Yes | [51] | |
ExR | Acryloyl-X, SE | N,N′-methylenebisacrylamide | ~ 4×, ~ 20× (two rounds) | Yes | [52] | |
Tetra-gel (TG) | NHS-azide | Step-growth polymerization (no crosslinking); the polymerization proceeds via click reaction between the azide and alkyne groups of the monomers | ~ 3.0–3.5×, ~ 10–16× (two rounds), ~ 40× (three rounds) | Yes | ||
LR-ExM | Trifunctional anchors (HOOC-MA-biotin, HOOC-MA-DIG, BG-MA-biotin, BG-MA-DIG, and BC-MA-DIG) | N,N′-Methylenebisacrylamide | ~ 4.3–4.7× | No | [55] | |
PhASE-ExM | Acryloyl-X, SE | 8-arm and 10 kDa PEG-SH, N,N′-methylenebisacrylamide | ~ 3.25× | Yes | [56] | |
U-ExM | Acrylamide and formaldehyde | N,N′-Methylenebisacrylamide | ~ 4× | Yes | ||
Nucleic acids | ExFISH | Label X | N,N′-Methylenebisacrylamide | ~ 3.3× | No (Synthesized from Label-IT and AcX) | [59] |
EASI-FISH | MelphaX | N,N′-Methylenebisacrylamide | ~ 2–3× | No (Synthesized from Melphalan and AcX) | [60] | |
ExSeq | Label X | N,N′-Methylenebisacrylamide | ~ 4× | No (Synthesized from Label-IT and AcX) | [61] | |
Lipids | mExM | Membrane probe pGk5b | N,N′-Methylenebisacrylamide | ~ 3× | No | [62] |
LExM | Trifunctional LExM reagent | N,N′-Methylenebisacrylamide | ~ 4–8× | No | [63] | |
Sphingolipid ExM | α–NH2–ω–N3–C6–ceramide and GA | N,N′-Methylenebisacrylamide |  ~ 4 and 10× | No | [64] | |
Multiplexed labeling | TRITON | Trivalent TRITON linker | N,N′-Methylenebisacrylamide | ~ 3.2× | No | |
Click-ExM | Interaction between biotin, streptavidin, and Acryloyl-X, SE (or GA) | N,N′-Methylenebisacrylamide | ~ 4.5× | No | [66] | |
Physical entanglement | eMAP | Entanglement by the polymer chains (no covalent anchoring) | N,N′-Methylenebisacrylamide | ~ 4 and 10× | Yes | [67] |
ELAST | Entanglement by the polymer chains (no covalent anchoring) | N,N′-Methylenebisacrylamide | ~ 2–3× | Yes | [68] |