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Fluorescent proteins have revolutionized cellular biology, introducing a time component in the spatial analysis of biological processes. However, it has been only recently that transcribed nucleic acids could be detected in live cells (Bertrand et al., 1998). Single-molecule detection of the constituents of gene expression is currently transforming our vision of molecular biology, allowing the focus to shift from cellular populations to single cells and eventually to the quantum units of single genes, the single mRNAs. Ultimately, we will be able to describe the dynamics of genes within live cells and analyze the synthesis and motion of single mRNAs traveling toward their translation sites. |
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