Molecular mechanisms and regulation of bacterial transcription in vivo (360G-Wellcome-110164_Z_15_Z)

This research focuses on understanding how simple organisms, such as bacteria, control the conversion of their genes into proteins. This delicate control is essential for the survival and reproduction of all organisms, since it allows them to manufacture the right set of proteins at the right time, at the right place, and at the amounts required. We will study the first and most vital step in the control of gene expression: the start of transcription, a process that converts information store d in DNA into an RNA messenger molecule. Our work focuses on timing the control steps by watching directly an individual molecule of the main transcription machine (a protein called RNA polymerase) opening the gene for reading it and completing the first few reading steps. Using ultra-sensitive light microscopes and fluorescent molecules, we will study these mechanisms both outside and inside single living cells. Our work is unique in that it records dynamic movies of transcription as it hap pens, going much beyond studies that provide only static or blurry images of the machines involved. Our work will help scientists understand how the expression of genes is controlled in complex organisms and discover how some important antibiotics work.