Stochastic transcriptional pulses orchestrate flagellar biosynthesis in Escherichia coli.

ABSTRACT: The classic picture of flagellum biosynthesis in Escherichia coli, inferred from population measurements, depicts a deterministic program where promoters are sequentially up-regulated and are maintained steadily active throughout exponential growth. However, complex regulatory dynamics at the single-cell level can be masked by bulk measurements. Here, we discover that in individual E. coli cells, flagellar promoters are stochastically activated in pulses. These pulses are coordinated within specific classes of promoters and comprise "on" and "off" states, each of which can span multiple generations. We demonstrate that in this pulsing program, the regulatory logic of flagellar assembly dictates which promoters skip pulses. Surprisingly, pulses do not require specific transcriptional or tra

SUBMITTER: Kim JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7002133 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature