Molecular mechanisms and regulation of bacterial transcription in vivo

Transcription is a fundamental process for all organisms, constituting the first step in gene expression, and controlling the ability of living systems to develop, differentiate, sense their environment and adapt. Tight regulation mechanisms are required to ensure that the correct genes are expressed at the correct time and place and at the levels required. The timing of transcription is controlled during transcription initiation; a complicated process with many transitions involving transient, dynamic complexes formed through protein and DNA conformational changes. Professor Kapanidis will use cutting-edge single molecule approaches to elucidate the molecular mechanisms that living cells employ to regulate the transcription of genes in a precise spatial and temporal manner by direct, real-time visualisation of transcription on single genes inside single living cells.