Frequency Modulation of Transcriptional Bursting Enables Sensitive and Rapid Gene Regulation

Stimulus-induced modulation of transcriptional bursting in a single mammalian gene.

Mammalian genes are often transcribed discontinuously as short bursts of RNA synthesis followed by longer silent periods. However, how these "on" and "off" transitions, together with the burst sizes, are modulated in single cells to increase gene expression upon stimulation is poorly characterized. By combining single-cell time-lapse luminescence imaging with stochastic modeling of the time tra...

Regulation of Transcriptional Bursting by a Naturally Oscillating Signal

Transcription is highly stochastic, occurring in irregular bursts. For temporal and spatial precision of gene expression, cells must somehow deal with this noisy behavior. To address how this is achieved, we investigated how transcriptional bursting is entrained by a naturally oscillating signal, by direct measurement of transcription together with signal dynamics in living cells. We identify a...

MicroRNA regulation of IFN-beta protein expression: rapid and sensitive modulation of the innate immune response.

IFN-beta production is an inaugural event in the innate immune response to viral infections, with relatively small fold changes in IFN-beta expression resulting in the activation of important antiviral signaling cascades. In our rapid SIV/macaque model of HIV encephalitis, the virus enters the CNS within 4 d of infection, accompanied by a marked IFN-beta response that wanes as SIV replication i...

MicroRNA Regulation of IFN-β Protein Expression: Rapid and Sensitive Modulation of the Innate Immune Response

Enhancer Control of Transcriptional Bursting

Transcription is episodic, consisting of a series of discontinuous bursts. Using live-imaging methods and quantitative analysis, we examine transcriptional bursting in living Drosophila embryos. Different developmental enhancers positioned downstream of synthetic reporter genes produce transcriptional bursts with similar amplitudes and duration but generate very different bursting frequencies, ...