Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
Nature. 2011 Jul 20;475(7356):308-15. doi: 10.1038/nature10315.
Gene expression originates from individual DNA molecules within living cells. Like many single-molecule processes, gene expression and regulation are stochastic, that is, sporadic in time. This leads to heterogeneity in the messenger-RNA and protein copy numbers in a population of cells with identical genomes. With advanced single-cell fluorescence microscopy, it is now possible to quantify transcriptomes and proteomes with single-molecule sensitivity. Dynamic processes such as transcription-factor binding, transcription and translation can be monitored in real time, providing quantitative descriptions of the central dogma of molecular biology and the demonstration that a stochastic single-molecule event can determine the phenotype of a cell.
基因表达源自活细胞内的单个 DNA 分子。与许多单分子过程一样，基因表达和调控具有随机性，即在时间上是偶然的。这导致具有相同基因组的细胞群体中的信使 RNA 和蛋白质拷贝数存在异质性。借助先进的单细胞荧光显微镜，现在可以实现单分子灵敏度的转录组和蛋白质组定量。可以实时监测转录因子结合、转录和翻译等动态过程，为分子生物学的中心法则提供定量描述，并证明随机的单分子事件可以决定细胞的表型。
