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Updated: Aug 9, 2026

Visualizing Protein-DNA Interactions in Live Bacterial Cells Using Photoactivated Single-molecule Tracking
Published on: March 10, 2014
What is life? The paradigm of DNA and protein cooperation at high local concentrations
1Institute of Genetics, University of Cologne, Zülpicher Str. 47, D 50674 Cologne, Germany. muellerhill@uni-koeln.de
Abstract:
Many chemical reactions need high concentrations of the molecules involved in order to work efficiently. It is usually impossible for the cell to achieve the necessary high concentrations of all relevant molecules in unconfined solutions but this becomes possible if the high concentration is restricted around a relevant molecule. High local concentrations of interacting molecules have been observed many times in many different biological systems. The examples of Lac and Lambda repressors of Escherichia coli are presented and discussed here as useful paradigms of mechanisms for achieving high local concentrations of interacting protein protomers.
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