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The route to transcription initiation determines the mode of transcriptional bursting in E. coli

Author

Listed:
  • Christoph Engl

    (Queen Mary University of London)

  • Goran Jovanovic

    (Imperial College London
    Imperial College London
    University of Belgrade)

  • Rowan D. Brackston

    (Imperial College London)

  • Ioly Kotta-Loizou

    (Imperial College London)

  • Martin Buck

    (Imperial College London)

Abstract

Transcription is fundamentally noisy, leading to significant heterogeneity across bacterial populations. Noise is often attributed to burstiness, but the underlying mechanisms and their dependence on the mode of promotor regulation remain unclear. Here, we measure E. coli single cell mRNA levels for two stress responses that depend on bacterial sigma factors with different mode of transcription initiation (σ70 and σ54). By fitting a stochastic model to the observed mRNA distributions, we show that the transition from low to high expression of the σ70-controlled stress response is regulated via the burst size, while that of the σ54-controlled stress response is regulated via the burst frequency. Therefore, transcription initiation involving σ54 differs from other bacterial systems, and yields bursting kinetics characteristic of eukaryotic systems.

Suggested Citation

  • Christoph Engl & Goran Jovanovic & Rowan D. Brackston & Ioly Kotta-Loizou & Martin Buck, 2020. "The route to transcription initiation determines the mode of transcriptional bursting in E. coli," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-11, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:11:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-020-16367-6
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-16367-6
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