RNA dynamics in live Escherichia coli cells
Open accessAbstract
We describe a method for tracking RNA molecules in Escherichia coli that is sensitive to single copies of mRNA, and, using the method, we find that individual molecules can be followed for many hours in living cells. We observe distinct characteristic dynamics of RNA molecules, all consistent with the known life history of RNA in prokaryotes: localized motion consistent with the Brownian motion of an RNA polymer tethered to its template DNA, free diffusion, and a few examples of polymer chain dynamics that appear to be a combination of chain fluctuation and chain elongation attributable to RNA transcription. We also quantify some of the dynamics, such as width of the displacement distribution, diffusion coefficient, chain elongation rate, and distribution of molecule numbers, and compare them with known biophysical parameters of the E. coli system.
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The viscosity of the environment was previously estimated to be 1.2 PAs from the diffusion coefficient of an mRNA in E. coli.
“The viscosity was previously estimated to be 1.2 PAs from the diffusion coefficient of an mRNA in E. coli.”
From Bringing the genetically minimal cell to life on a computer in 4D (2026) · cites this paper as [105]
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“coli for a mRNA 4,000 nt in length (Golding and Cox, 2004).”
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- Authors
- Golding, I., & Cox, E. C.
- Affiliations
- Princeton University (US)
- ORCID
- Golding, Ido
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2004-07-26
- Volume
- 101
- Issue
- 31
- Pages
- 11310-11315
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC509199
- OpenAlex
- W1980695770
- Cited by
- 288
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 22 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 15 · 2015: 25 · 2014: 26 · 2013: 17 · 2012: 22
- FWCI
- 5.51
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Princeton University
- National Institutes of Health
- National Human Genome Research Institute (R01HG001506, HG001506)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Biophysics › Advanced Fluorescence Microscopy Techniques
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › RNA and protein synthesis mechanisms
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Bacterial Genetics and Biotechnology
- Keywords
- RNA dynamics, single-molecule tracking, Escherichia coli, mRNA, Brownian motion, transcription, chain extension, diffusion coefficient, displacement distribution, live-cell imaging
- MeSH terms
- Diffusion, Escherichia coli, Indicators and Reagents, Luminescent Proteins, Microscopy, Fluorescence, Polymers, Recombinant Fusion Proteins, RNA, Bacterial, RNA, Messenger, Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial, Green Fluorescent Proteins
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