121st General Meeting of the KCS

Type Symposium
Area Special Session: Meet the Awardees of Samsung Research Funding in Life Chemistry
Room No. Room 203
Time THU 17:20-:
Code BIO2-2
Subject Single-protein tracking for direct observation of cellular process in a living cell
Authors Nam Ki Lee
Division of Chemistry, Seoul National University, Korea
Abstract Recent advances in single-molecule fluorescence microscope techniques have allowed single-molecule sensitivity to probe various protein-DNA interactions, their structural changes, and fundamental cellular processes in a living cell. Transcription, a process of mRNA generation by RNA polymerase (RNAP), is highly coupled with translation by ribosome in bacteria. The effect of the transcription-translation coupling on the transcriptional dynamics and the localization of genes in a living cell is poorly understood. Here, we directly observe the dynamics of transcription and the movement of the subcellular localization of genes actively transcribed by RNAP in living cells at the sub-diffraction limit resolution. The subcellular localizations of the non-membrane protein’ genes, actively transcribed by RNAPs, move toward outside nucleoid or to plasma membrane by the effect of translation by ribosome. The movement of genes by transcription-translation coupling is general for both E. coli RNAP and T7 RNAP. Our observation demonstrates how two spatially separated processes of transcription and translation are coupled in bacteria and the movement of genes by the cooperation between transcription and translation plays a crucial role in the effective expression of genes in E. coli.
E-mail namkilee@snu.ac.kr