Single-molecule tracking in live cells reveals distinct target-search strategies of transcription factors in the nucleus
- Institut de Biologie de l'École normale supérieure (IBENS) CNRS UMR 8197, France
- Université Pierre et Marie Curie, France
- Institut Curie, CNRS UMR168, France
Abstract
Gene regulation relies on transcription factors (TFs) exploring the nucleus searching their targets. So far, most studies have focused on how fast TFs diffuse, underestimating the role of nuclear architecture. We implemented a single-molecule tracking assay to determine TFs dynamics. We found that c-Myc is a global explorer of the nucleus. In contrast, the positive transcription elongation factor P-TEFb is a local explorer that oversamples its environment. Consequently, each c-Myc molecule is equally available for all nuclear sites while P-TEFb reaches its targets in a position-dependent manner. Our observations are consistent with a model in which the exploration geometry of TFs is restrained by their interactions with nuclear structures and not by exclusion. The geometry-controlled kinetics of TFs target-search illustrates the influence of nuclear architecture on gene regulation, and has strong implications on how proteins react in the nucleus and how their function can be regulated in space and time.
Article and author information
Author details
Reviewing Editor
- Robert H Singer, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, United States
Version history
- Received: January 7, 2014
- Accepted: June 11, 2014
- Accepted Manuscript published: June 12, 2014 (version 1)
- Version of Record published: July 15, 2014 (version 2)
Copyright
© 2014, Izeddin et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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Single-molecule tracking in live cells reveals distinct target-search strategies of transcription factors in the nucleus
eLife 3:e02230.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.02230
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