Gene expression is one of the most fundamental and essential biological processes in living cells. Nowadays single-molecule and single-cell biophysical approaches have provided powerful means in studying gene expression and regulation. In the first part of my talk, I will illustrate the application of single-molecule fluorescent resonance transfer in revealing critical conformational dynamics of translating ribosome, one of the largest cellular machines responsible for protein synthesis.  In the second part, I will demonstrate a potential new application of the single-molecule fluorescence-based super resolution imaging technique in the quantitative analysis of small RNA-mediated gene regulation at the cellular level.

 

Ref:

1.      Fei, J., Kosuri, P., MacDougall, D. and Gonzalez, R.L., Jr. (2008). Coupling of ribosomal L1 stalk and tRNA dynamics during translation elongation. Mol Cell, 30: 348-359.

2.      Fei, J., Bronson, J.E., Hofman, J.M., Srinivas, R.L., Wiggins, C.H. and Gonzalez, R.L., Jr. (2009). Allosteric collaboration between elongation factor G and the ribosomal L1 stalk directs tRNA movements during translation. Proc Natl Acad Sci, USA, 106:15702-15707.

3.      Fei, J., Richard, A.C., Bronson, J.E. and Gonzalez, R.L., Jr. (2011). Transfer RNA-mediated control of ribosome dynamics during translation. Nat Struct Mol Biol 18:1043-51.