Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Institute for Biomedicine, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, 405 30 Gothenburg, Sweden.
Department of Physics, University of York, YO10 5DD York, United Kingdom.
Methods. 2021 Sep;193:62-67. doi: 10.1016/j.ymeth.2020.10.009. Epub 2020 Oct 18.
Most cells adapt to their environment by switching combinations of genes on and off through a complex interplay of transcription factor proteins (TFs). The mechanisms by which TFs respond to signals, move into the nucleus and find specific binding sites in target genes is still largely unknown. Single-molecule fluorescence microscopes, which can image single TFs in live cells, have begun to elucidate the problem. Here, we show that different environmental signals, in this case carbon sources, yield a unique single-molecule fluorescence pattern of foci of a key metabolic regulating transcription factor, Mig1, in the nucleus of the budding yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. This pattern serves as a 'barcode' of the gene regulatory state of the cells which can be correlated with cell growth characteristics and other biological function.
大多数细胞通过转录因子蛋白（TFs）的复杂相互作用来开启和关闭基因组合，从而适应其环境。TFs 如何响应信号、进入细胞核并在靶基因中找到特定结合位点，在很大程度上仍然未知。单分子荧光显微镜可以在活细胞中对单个 TF 进行成像，它已经开始阐明这个问题。在这里，我们表明，不同的环境信号（在这种情况下是碳源）会在出芽酵母酿酒酵母的核中产生关键代谢调节转录因子 Mig1 焦点的独特单分子荧光模式。这种模式充当细胞基因调控状态的“条形码”，可与细胞生长特征和其他生物学功能相关联。
