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Imaging gene expression in single living cells

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology volume 5, pages 855–862 (2004)Cite this article

Abstract

Technical advances in the field of live-cell imaging have introduced the cell biologist to a new, dynamic, subcellular world. The static world of molecules in fixed cells has now been extended to the time dimension. This allows the visualization and quantification of gene expression and intracellular trafficking events of the studied molecules and the associated enzymatic processes in individual cells, in real time.

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Figure 1: Dynamics of mRNA molecules in the cytoplasm of mammalian cells.
Figure 2: Analysis of ASH1-particle movement in yeast.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank B. Ovryn for critical reading of the manuscript. R.H.S is supported by the National Institutes of Health.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anatomy and Structural Biology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, 10461, New York, USA

    Yaron Shav-Tal, Robert H. Singer & Xavier Darzacq

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  1. Yaron Shav-Tal
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  2. Robert H. Singer
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  3. Xavier Darzacq
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Correspondence to Robert H. Singer.

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Supplementary information

Related links

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DATABASES

Entrez

α-globin

β-globin

Saccharomyces genome database

ASH1

she1

Swiss-Prot

GFP

lacI

MS2

FURTHER INFORMATION

Approaches for live-cell imaging, Bioptechs

Imaging in cell biology supplement, Nature Publishing Group

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Shav-Tal, Y., Singer, R. & Darzacq, X. Imaging gene expression in single living cells. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 5, 855–862 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrm1494

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