Biology at single-molecule and single-cell level: chromosome organization, gene expression and beyond

Single molecules and single cells are the fundamental building blocks in biology. Facilitated by the advancement of technology, quantitative single-molecule and single-cell measurements provide a unique perspective toward many biological systems by revealing individual stochasticity and population h...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Chen, Chongyi
Other Authors: Xie, Xiaoliang Sunney
Language:en_US
Published: Harvard University 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dissertations.umi.com/gsas.harvard:11423
http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:12269844
Description
Summary:Single molecules and single cells are the fundamental building blocks in biology. Facilitated by the advancement of technology, quantitative single-molecule and single-cell measurements provide a unique perspective toward many biological systems by revealing individual stochasticity and population heterogeneity. Taking advantage of these approaches, we studied chromosome organization and gene expression in bacteria and discovered new biophysical mechanisms: chromosome organization by a nucleoid-associated protein in live bacteria, and transcriptional bursting by the regulation of DNA supercoiling in bacteria.