System-wide studies of gene expression in Escherichia coli by fluorescence microscopy and high throughput sequencing

Gene expression is a fundamental process in the cell and is made up of two parts - the information flow from DNA to RNA, and from RNA to protein. Here, we examined specific sub-processes in Escherichia coli gene expression using newly available tools that permit genome-wide analysis. We begin our studies measuring mRNA and protein abundances in single cells by single-molecule fluorescence microscopy, and then focus our attention to studying RNA generation and degradation by high throughput sequencing.