A Stochastic Single-Molecule Event Triggers Phenotype Switching of a Bacterial Cell Export

@article{Choi08, abstract = {By monitoring fluorescently labeled lactose permease with single-molecule sensitivity, we investigated the molecular mechanism of how an Escherichia coli cell with the lac operon switches from one phenotype to another. At intermediate inducer concentrations, a population of genetically identical cells exhibits two phenotypes: induced cells with highly fluorescent membranes and uninduced cells with a small number of membrane-bound permeases. We found that this basal-level expression results from partial dissociation of the tetrameric lactose repressor from one of its operators on looped DNA. In contrast, infrequent events of complete dissociation of the repressor from DNA result in large bursts of permease expression that trigger induction of the lac operon. Hence, a stochastic single-molecule event determines a cell's phenotype. 10.1126/science.1161427}, author = {Choi, Paul J. and Cai, Long and Frieda, Kirsten and Xie, X. Sunney}, citeulike-article-id = {3422630}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1161427}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://www.sciencemag.org/content/sci;322/5900/442.abstract}, citeulike-linkout-2 = {http://www.sciencemag.org/content/sci;322/5900/442.full.pdf}, citeulike-linkout-3 = {http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/322/5900/442}, citeulike-linkout-4 = {http://view.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18927393}, citeulike-linkout-5 = {http://www.hubmed.org/display.cgi?uids=18927393}, day = {17}, doi = {10.1126/science.1161427}, journal = {Science}, keywords = {molecule, single, stochastic, xie}, month = {October}, number = {5900}, pages = {442--446}, posted-at = {2008-11-01 22:32:53}, priority = {2}, title = {A Stochastic Single-Molecule Event Triggers Phenotype Switching of a Bacterial Cell}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1161427}, volume = {322}, year = {2008} }

TY - JOUR ID - Choi08 L3 - citeulike-article-id:3422630 N2 - By monitoring fluorescently labeled lactose permease with single-molecule sensitivity, we investigated the molecular mechanism of how an Escherichia coli cell with the lac operon switches from one phenotype to another. At intermediate inducer concentrations, a population of genetically identical cells exhibits two phenotypes: induced cells with highly fluorescent membranes and uninduced cells with a small number of membrane-bound permeases. We found that this basal-level expression results from partial dissociation of the tetrameric lactose repressor from one of its operators on looped DNA. In contrast, infrequent events of complete dissociation of the repressor from DNA result in large bursts of permease expression that trigger induction of the lac operon. Hence, a stochastic single-molecule event determines a cell's phenotype. 10.1126/science.1161427 IS - 5900 JF - Science EP - 446 TI - A Stochastic Single-Molecule Event Triggers Phenotype Switching of a Bacterial Cell VL - 322 SP - 442 KW - molecule KW - single KW - stochastic KW - xie AU - Choi, Paul AU - Cai, Long AU - Frieda, Kirsten AU - Xie, Sunney PY - 2008/10/17/ UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1161427 ER -