Capturing gene regulation in action by single-molecule imaging directly inside living cells

Transcription is the first step in the so-called “central dogma” of biology, when the genetic information that we inherit from our parents in the form of DNA is decoded and copied into messenger RNA transcripts. Despite its fundamental importance, how this basic process occurs in our living cells remains poorly understood. In complex organisms like humans, transcription is believed to rely on fast local crowding of the relevant enzymes to regulate gene expression. But capturing these rapidly changing, so called ‘weak and transient’ interactions requires novel, unconventional methods of microscopy. Here, I will present on our efforts to achieve single-molecule resolution imaging directly inside living cells and the recent discoveries from my laboratory in capturing cooperative behaviors that emerge during transcription.​