Work

Seeing Is Believing: Visualizing Transcriptional Dynamics in Single Cells

Year: 2013

Type: review

Abstract: For a gene to be expressed, the functions of multiple molecular machines must be coordinated at the site of transcription. To understand the role of nuclear organization in transcription, it is necessary to visualize the dynamic interactions of regulatory factors with chromatin and RNA. It is currently possible to localize individual transcription sites in single living mammalian cells by engineering reporter gene constructs to include sequence elements which permit the visualization of nucleic acids in vivo. Upon stable integration, these transgenes form chromatinized arrays, which can be imaged during activation to obtain high-resolution quantitative information about transcriptional dynamics. Modeling can suggest new hypotheses about gene regulation, which can be tested both in the single-cell imaging system and at endogenous genes. This gene-specific imaging strategy has the potential to reveal regulatory mechanisms, which would be difficult to imagine outside of single living cells.

Source: Journal of Cellular Physiology

DOI: 10.1002/jcp.24445

Authors: Alyshia Newhart, Susan M. Janicki

Institution: The Wistar Institute

Language: English

Topic: Genomics and Chromatin Dynamics

Subfield: Molecular Biology

Field: Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Cancer Institute, National Institute of General Medical Sciences

Awards: Characterizing mechanisms of transcriptional activation using live cell imaging, G8784332457, Consolidated Basic Cancer Research Program