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Updated: May 23, 2026

Probing mRNA Kinetics in Space and Time in Escherichia coli using Two-Color Single-Molecule Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization
Published on: July 30, 2020
Single-molecule dynamics of transcription of the lar promoter
M Kandhavelu1, A Häkkinen, O Yli-Harja
1Computational Systems Biology Research Group, Department of Signal Processing, Tampere University of Technology, Tampere, Finland.
Abstract:
We measured the in vivo production of RNA molecules tagged with MS2d-GFP in Escherichia coli, driven by the lar promoter, under weak and medium induction. The distributions of intervals between consecutive productions of RNAs are found to be sub-exponential, and the process of RNA production is found to be sub-Poissonian. We discuss possible models of transcription initiation and, based on our results and previous in vitro measurements, find that a sequential two-step model of transcription initiation at the promoter region explains the results well.
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