A beacon in the cytoplasm: Tracking translation of single mRNAs.

Translation is carefully regulated to control protein levels and allow quick responses to changes in the environment. Certain questions about translation in vivo have been unattainable until now. In this issue, Pichon et al. (2016. J. Cell Biol http://dx.doi.org/10.1083/jcb.201605024) describe a new technique to allow real-time monitoring of translation on single mRNAs.