Visualization of transcription in living cells has taught us that genes are often transcribed in bursts, with periods of gene activity interspersed by periods of inactivity. Recently, technological advances in live-cell imaging have provided a more detailed picture of the characteristics of transcriptional bursts, and have allowed direct visualization of the upstream regulatory steps of bursting at single-molecule resolution. In this review, we highlight the latest insights into transcription dynamics and we discuss recent developments in understanding the regulation of transcriptional bursting through the binding kinetics of transcription factors, enhancer-promoter interactions and clustering/phase separation of the transcriptional machinery.

中文翻译：

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可视化转录：了解基因表达动态的关键。

活细胞中转录的可视化告诉我们，基因经常以突发方式转录，而基因活性的时期会被不活动的时期所散布。近来，活细胞成像技术的进步为转录爆发的特征提供了更详细的图片，并允许以单分子分辨率直接观察爆发的上游调节步骤。在这篇综述中，我们重点介绍了转录动力学的最新见解，并讨论了通过理解转录因子的结合动力学，增强子-启动子相互作用和转录机制的聚类/相分离来调控转录爆发的最新进展。