Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Chemotaxis in E. coli01:27

Chemotaxis in E. coli

Chemotaxis in Escherichia coli is a sensory-driven motility mechanism that enables bacteria to navigate chemical gradients, moving toward beneficial environments while avoiding harmful conditions. This process relies on a signal transduction system integrating external chemical cues with flagellar motor control.Chemoreceptors and Signal DetectionE. coli detects chemical gradients through methyl-accepting chemotaxis proteins (MCPs), which are membrane-bound chemoreceptors that sense attractants...
Chemotaxis and Direction of Cell Migration01:21

Chemotaxis and Direction of Cell Migration

Cells can detect chemical cues in their environment and reorganize the cytoskeleton to migrate toward them or away from them. This directional migration, called chemotaxis, is essential during embryogenesis and development, immune response, tissue repair and regeneration, and reproduction. These chemical cues can either attract or repel the cell's movement. For example, axon development is determined by a combination of chemoattractants and chemorepellents that direct the growing axon towards...
Flagella and Motility in Bacteria01:18

Flagella and Motility in Bacteria

Flagella are specialized, thread-like structures that extend from a bacteria's cell envelope. They play a crucial role in motility and chemotaxis. Their structural organization and functioning exemplify sophisticated biological engineering, enabling bacterial survival and adaptability in diverse environments.Structure of the FlagellumA bacterial flagellum consists of three key components: the filament, the hook, and basal body. The filament, a long, helical structure composed of repeating...
Other Unique Bacteria01:18

Other Unique Bacteria

Magnetic bacteria exhibit a directed movement called magnetotaxis, driven by structures called magnetosomes. These magnetosomes consist of chains of magnetic particles made of either magnetite (Fe₃O₄) or greigite (Fe₃S₄) and are organized in a linear conformation by a protein scaffold within invaginations of the cell membrane. The bacteria align along the north–south magnetic field lines, much like a compass needle. They are typically microaerophilic or anaerobic and are commonly found near the...
Bacterial Signaling01:30

Bacterial Signaling

Bacterial signaling can occur within bacteria (intracellular) or between bacteria (intercellular). At times, a group of bacteria behaves like a community. To achieve this, they engage in quorum sensing, the perception of higher cell density that causes changes in gene expression. Quorum sensing involves both extracellular and intracellular signaling. The signaling cascade starts with a molecule called an autoinducer (AI). Individual bacteria produce AIs that move out of the bacterial cell...
Intracellular Movement of Viruses and Bacteria01:10

Intracellular Movement of Viruses and Bacteria

Intracellular bacteria and viruses often comprise a group of highly infectious pathogens that can cause several diseases. Bacterial pathogens include those belonging to the genus Rickettsia responsible for conditions such as rocky mountain spotted fever and the Mediterranean spotted fever; Chlamydia, a genus responsible for a sexually transmitted disease; Coxiella burnetii, an agent responsible for Q fever. Viral pathogens include vaccinia—a poxvirus, and herpes simplex virus—a virus that...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Enzyme agglomerates change cytoplasmic fluidity.

Molecular cell·2026
Same author

Pre-CAT: A web-based, graphical user-interface toolbox for preclinical CEST-MRI data processing and analysis.

ArXiv·2026
Same author

Cell-internal autocrine receptor inactivation supports maintenance of mating-type identity in yeast.

Science advances·2026
Same author

Western diet suppresses canonical intestinal stem cells and reprograms c-Kit⁺ reserve stem cells via proinflammatory dysbiosis.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2026
Same author

Toolbox of FRET-based c-di-GMP biosensors and its FRET-To-Sort application for genome-wide mapping of c-di-GMP regulation.

Nature communications·2026
Same author

Multi-contrast generation and quantitative MRI using a transformer-based framework with RF excitation embeddings.

Communications biology·2025
Same journal

Neuronal membrane organization by the submembranous spectrin-ankyrin scaffold: evolution, specialization and disease.

Biological chemistry·2026
Same journal

Golgi-associated membrane scaffolds: roles in health and disease.

Biological chemistry·2026
Same journal

Mechanistic insights on spatiotemporal control of Ras-signaling.

Biological chemistry·2026
Same journal

Cysteine cathepsin proteases in apicomplexan parasites.

Biological chemistry·2026
Same journal

Electron donating and withdrawing groups affect the antioxidant activity of 4'-aminochalcones on gentamicin-induced kidney cell injury.

Biological chemistry·2026
Same journal

CNKSR2 scaffold function in the mammalian nervous system.

Biological chemistry·2026
See all related articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 20, 2026

Generating Controlled, Dynamic Chemical Landscapes to Study Microbial Behavior
10:07

Generating Controlled, Dynamic Chemical Landscapes to Study Microbial Behavior

Published on: January 31, 2020

Chemotaxis: how bacteria use memory.

Nikita Vladimirov1, Victor Sourjik

  • 1Interdisziplinäres Zentrum für Wissenschaftliches Rechnen der Universität Heidelberg (IWR), Im Neuenheimer Feld 368, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany. nikita.vladimirov@gmail.com

Biological Chemistry
|September 15, 2009
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Bacterial chemotaxis uses molecular memory to sense chemical gradients. This bacterial behavior, optimized over time, may benefit from adaptation system noise for improved population performance.

More Related Videos

In Situ Chemotaxis Assay to Examine Microbial Behavior in Aquatic Ecosystems
07:23

In Situ Chemotaxis Assay to Examine Microbial Behavior in Aquatic Ecosystems

Published on: May 5, 2020

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 20, 2026

Generating Controlled, Dynamic Chemical Landscapes to Study Microbial Behavior
10:07

Generating Controlled, Dynamic Chemical Landscapes to Study Microbial Behavior

Published on: January 31, 2020

In Situ Chemotaxis Assay to Examine Microbial Behavior in Aquatic Ecosystems
07:23

In Situ Chemotaxis Assay to Examine Microbial Behavior in Aquatic Ecosystems

Published on: May 5, 2020

Area of Science:

  • Microbiology
  • Biophysics
  • Systems Biology

Background:

  • Bacterial chemotaxis is a fundamental unicellular behavior involving temporal gradient sensing.
  • The model organism Escherichia coli has been extensively studied for its chemotaxis pathway.
  • Quantitative data has facilitated computational modeling and theoretical analysis of chemotaxis.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To explore the role of molecular memory in bacterial chemotaxis.
  • To investigate the evolutionary optimization of memory timescales.
  • To assess the potential benefits of noise in the chemotaxis adaptation system.

Main Methods:

  • Review of extensive experimental data from 40 years of research on Escherichia coli chemotaxis.
  • Computational modeling of the chemotaxis pathway.
  • Theoretical analysis of pathway properties like robustness and signal amplification.

Main Results:

  • Molecular memory is crucial for temporal gradient sensing in bacterial chemotaxis.
  • The memory timescale appears to be evolutionarily optimized for efficient stimulus comparison.
  • Noise in the adaptation system may enhance overall population chemotactic performance.

Conclusions:

  • Bacterial chemotaxis is a highly evolved system demonstrating sophisticated temporal sensing.
  • Optimized molecular memory and potentially beneficial noise contribute to effective bacterial navigation.
  • Further research can elucidate the precise mechanisms and advantages of these features.