Stochastic activation of a DNA damage response causes cell-to-cell mutation rate variation

  • Date: Jun 27, 2016
  • Time: 01:15 PM (Local Time Germany)
  • Speaker: Dr. Stephan Uphoff
  • Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford
  • Location: MPI for Terrestrial Microbiology
  • Room: Lecture hall
  • Host: Dr. Ulrike Endesfelder
  • Contact: ulrike.endesfelder@synmikro.mpi-marburg.mpg.de
At the molecular level, all biological processes are subject to chance, governed by random encounters of molecules within cells. This means that even cells with identical genetic makeup will show random variation in their behaviour. In this talk, I will show that gene expression noise causes stochastic delays in the activation of a DNA damage response in Escherichia coli. This leads to a subpopulation of cells with increased mutation rates. I will cover a range of single-cell, single-molecule, and super-resolution microscopy techniques that are generally applicable in the field of bacterial cell biology.
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