Riboswitches as versatile gene control elements

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Aug 17, 2026

An Ecdysone Receptor-based Singular Gene Switch for Deliberate Expression of Transgene with Robustness, Reversibility, and Negligible Leakiness
06:21

An Ecdysone Receptor-based Singular Gene Switch for Deliberate Expression of Transgene with Robustness, Reversibility, and Negligible Leakiness

Published on: May 7, 2018

Brian J Tucker1, Ronald R Breaker

  • 1Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA.

Current Opinion in Structural Biology
|May 28, 2005
PubMed

More Related Videos

Rapid Synthesis and Screening of Chemically Activated Transcription Factors with GFP-based Reporters09:22

Rapid Synthesis and Screening of Chemically Activated Transcription Factors with GFP-based Reporters

Published on: November 26, 2013

In vivo Application of the REMOTE-control System for the Manipulation of Endogenous Gene Expression08:54

In vivo Application of the REMOTE-control System for the Manipulation of Endogenous Gene Expression

Published on: March 29, 2019

Related Concept Videos

Riboswitches01:56

Riboswitches

Riboswitches are non-coding mRNA domains that regulate the transcription and translation of downstream genes without the help of proteins. Riboswitches bind directly to a metabolite and can form unique stem-loop or hairpin structures in response to the amount of the metabolite present. They have two distinct regions – a metabolite-binding aptamer and an expression platform.
The aptamer has high specificity for a particular metabolite which allows riboswitches to specifically regulate...
Transcriptional Regulation: Riboswitches01:23

Transcriptional Regulation: Riboswitches

Riboswitches are RNA elements that regulate gene expression by altering their secondary structures in response to specific effector molecules. These elements, located in the leader regions of certain mRNAs, act as transcriptional regulators by toggling between alternative conformations to control downstream gene expression. Riboswitch-mediated regulation is a precise mechanism for modulating biosynthetic pathways, as exemplified by the riboflavin biosynthesis pathway in Bacillus...
Combinatorial Gene Control02:33

Combinatorial Gene Control

Combinatorial gene control is the synergistic action of several transcriptional factors to regulate the expression of a single gene. The absence of one or more of these factors may lead to a significant difference in the level of gene expression or repression.
The expression of more than 30,000 genes is controlled by approximately 2000-3000 transcription factors. This is possible because a single transcription factor can recognize more than one regulatory sequence. The specificity in gene...
Types of RNA01:23

Types of RNA

Overview
Three main types of RNA are involved in protein synthesis: messenger RNA (mRNA), transfer RNA (tRNA), and ribosomal RNA (rRNA). These RNAs perform diverse functions and can be broadly classified as protein-coding or non-coding RNA. Non-coding RNAs play important roles in the regulation of gene expression in response to developmental and environmental changes. Non-coding RNAs in prokaryotes can be manipulated to develop more effective antibacterial drugs for human or animal use.
RNA...
Translational Regulation01:29

Translational Regulation

Translational regulation in prokaryotes ensures efficient protein synthesis by controlling ribosome access to mRNA. This regulation is mediated by secondary RNA structures, including translational riboswitches, RNA thermometers, and small RNAs (sRNAs), which respond to intracellular and environmental signals to modulate gene expression.Translational RiboswitchesRiboswitches in the leader region of mRNAs can regulate translation by altering the accessibility of the Shine-Dalgarno (SD) sequence,...
Cooperative Binding of Transcription Regulators02:13

Cooperative Binding of Transcription Regulators

Transcriptional regulators bind to specific cis-regulatory sequences in the DNA to regulate gene transcription. These cis-regulatory sequences are very short, usually less than ten nucleotide pairs in length. The short length means that there is a high probability of the exact same sequence randomly occurring throughout the genome.  Since regulators can also bind to groups of similar sequences, this further increases the chances of random binding. Transcriptional regulators form dimers that...