Transcription Dynamics in Living Cells

The transcription cycle can be roughly divided into three stages: initiation, elongation, and termination. Understanding the molecular events that regulate all these stages requires a dynamic view of the underlying processes. The development of techniques to visualize and quantify transcription in s...

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Published inAnnual review of biophysics Vol. 45; no. 1; pp. 25 - 47
Main Authors Lenstra, Tineke L, Rodriguez, Joseph, Chen, Huimin, Larson, Daniel R
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Annual Reviews 05.07.2016
Subjects
Animals
Bacteria - genetics
Bacteria - metabolism
bursting
fluorescence
Gene Expression Regulation
heterogeneity
Humans
imaging
kinetics
RNA - biosynthesis
single-cell
Single-Cell Analysis
single-molecule
Species Specificity
Transcription, Genetic
single-molecule
fluorescence
single-cell
kinetics
bursting
imaging
heterogeneity
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Summary:The transcription cycle can be roughly divided into three stages: initiation, elongation, and termination. Understanding the molecular events that regulate all these stages requires a dynamic view of the underlying processes. The development of techniques to visualize and quantify transcription in single living cells has been essential in revealing the transcription kinetics. They have revealed that ( a ) transcription is heterogeneous between cells and ( b ) transcription can be discontinuous within a cell. In this review, we discuss the progress in our quantitative understanding of transcription dynamics in living cells, focusing on all parts of the transcription cycle. We present the techniques allowing for single-cell transcription measurements, review evidence from different organisms, and discuss how these experiments have broadened our mechanistic understanding of transcription regulation.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-2
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ObjectType-Review-1
ISSN:1936-122X
1936-1238
DOI:10.1146/annurev-biophys-062215-010838