title: Spatial organization of transcription in bacterial cells.
abstract: Prokaryotic transcription has been extensively studied over the past half a century. However, there often exists a gap between the structural, mechanistic description of transcription obtained from in vitro biochemical studies, and the cellular, phenomenological observations from in vivo genetic studies. It is now accepted that a living bacterial cell is a complex entity; the heterogeneous cellular environment is drastically different from the homogenous, well-mixed situation in vitro. Where molecules are inside a cell may be important for their function; hence, the spatial organization of different molecular components may provide a new means of transcription regulation in vivo, possibly bridging this gap. In this review, we survey current evidence for the spatial organization of four major components of transcription [genes, transcription factors, RNA polymerase (RNAP) and RNAs] and critically analyze their biological significance.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biophysics and Biophysical Chemistry, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Xiaoli
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Weng
authors.affiliation: Department of Biophysics and Biophysical Chemistry, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA. Electronic address: xiao@jhmi.edu.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xiao
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D002876:Chromosomes, Bacterial; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases / Q000378:metabolism; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D005798:Genes, Bacterial; D014176:Protein Biosynthesis; D020871:RNA Stability; D012329:RNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D012329:RNA, Bacterial; D014157:Transcription Factors; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases
keywords: RNA polymerase; chromosome conformation capture; prokaryotic transcription; single molecule; spatial organization; transcription factors