Methods that enable single-particle tracking of mRNAs have improved our understanding of how mRNA localization affects cellular function. However, these methods were previously unable to show whether an mRNA was undergoing translation. To address this question, Katz et al. tracked single β-actin transcripts labeled with the MS2-GFP system and fluorescent protein–labeled ribosomes in mammalian cells and studied the colocalization of the labeled mRNAs and ribosomes. They found that mRNAs diffused much more slowly when they colocalized with ribosomes, indicating that they were being actively translated in polysomes. The researchers also found that mRNAs were actively translated near focal adhesions, highlighting the power of their technique for studying local translation.
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Mapping active translation of single mRNAs. Nat Methods 13, 199 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth.3783
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth.3783
