Measuring transcription at a single gene copy reveals hidden drivers of bacterial individuality.

ABSTRACT: Single-cell measurements of mRNA copy numbers inform our understanding of stochastic gene expression^1-3, but these measurements coarse-grain over the individual copies of the gene, where transcription and its regulation take place stochastically^4,5. Here, we combine single-molecule quantification of mRNA and gene loci to measure the transcriptional activity of an endogenous gene in individual Escherichia coli bacteria. When interpreted using a theoretical model for mRNA dynamics, the single-cell data allow us to obtain the probabilistic rates of promoter switching, transcription initiation and elongation, mRNA release and degradation. Unexpectedly, we find that gene activity can be strongly coupled to the transcriptional state of another copy of the same gene present

SUBMITTER: Wang M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6879826 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature