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

Evolution of New Traits in Microbes01:24

Evolution of New Traits in Microbes

Microorganisms evolve rapidly due to their large population sizes and short generation times, often exhibiting measurable changes within days under laboratory conditions. Natural selection acts on standing genetic variation, enabling the retention and amplification of beneficial traits that confer fitness advantages in changing environments.Adaptive Pigment Regulation in RhodobacterIn Rhodobacter, a genus of purple non-sulfur bacteria, light-harvesting pigments such as bacteriochlorophyll and...
Evolutionary Processes in Microbes01:26

Evolutionary Processes in Microbes

Microbial evolution occurs rapidly due to short generation times and a variety of genetic processes, including horizontal gene transfer, mutation, recombination, and genetic drift. These mechanisms collectively enable microbes to adapt swiftly to changing environments.Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) allows genes to move between different species and occurs through three main mechanisms: conjugation, transformation, and transduction. Conjugation involves direct cell-to-cell contact for DNA...
Other Glycolytic Pathways01:24

Other Glycolytic Pathways

The pentose phosphate pathway (PPP) operates in parallel with glycolysis, facilitating the metabolism of both pentoses and glucose. This pathway consists of two distinct phases: the oxidative and non-oxidative phases. While it does not directly generate ATP, the intermediates formed during the process can integrate into glycolysis, contributing to cellular energy metabolism when required.Oxidative Phase: NADPH ProductionThe oxidative phase of the pentose phosphate pathway is primarily...
Neuroplasticity01:01

Neuroplasticity

Neuroplasticity reflects the brain's remarkable capacity to adapt and evolve, responding dynamically to learning, experiences, or injury by reorganizing its neural circuitry. This reorganization involves creating new neural connections and refining old ones through a series of biological processes that contribute to the brain's lifelong development and adaptability.
Bioreactor Controls-III01:22

Bioreactor Controls-III

Strain improvement is a foundational strategy in industrial microbiology aimed at maximizing microbial productivity, particularly because natural isolates typically yield commercially valuable products in very low concentrations. Although optimizing the culture medium and environmental conditions can improve yields, these adjustments are inherently limited by the organism’s genetic potential. As a result, the focus shifts toward genetic modifications to enhance biosynthetic capacity. The...
Introduction to Metabolism01:30

Introduction to Metabolism

Metabolism encompasses all biochemical reactions in a living organism, facilitating both the breakdown and synthesis of biomolecules. These metabolic processes are categorized into catabolic and anabolic pathways, which operate in a coordinated manner to ensure energy balance and cellular function.Catabolic Pathways and Energy ReleaseCatabolic pathways involve the breakdown of complex macromolecules such as carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins into smaller structures like monosaccharides, fatty...

You might also read

Related Articles

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

Sort by
Same author

Charge-Transfer-Mediated Boron Magneto-Ionics: Towards Voltage-Driven Multi-Ion Transport.

Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany)·2026
Same author

Performance of the prompt gamma-ray timing system prototype under clinical-like conditions.

Physics in medicine and biology·2026
Same author

Body composition's effect on the bone-vascular axis of osteoporosis discovered in AI-based CT analysis of COPD patients.

European radiology·2026
Same author

De novo promoters emerge more readily from random DNA than from genomic DNA.

Science advances·2026
Same author

A longitudinal whole-body CT dataset with manually annotated tumor lesions.

Scientific data·2026
Same author

Exploring the bone-vascular axis: AI-augmented chest CT analysis in COPD highlights association between vertebral bone density and arterial calcifications.

Respiratory medicine·2026

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 17, 2026

Following the Dynamics of Structural Variants in Experimentally Evolved Populations
04:52

Following the Dynamics of Structural Variants in Experimentally Evolved Populations

Published on: February 3, 2023

Evolutionary plasticity and innovations in complex metabolic reaction networks.

João F Matias Rodrigues1, Andreas Wagner

  • 1Department of Biochemistry, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland. j.rodrigues@bioc.uzh.ch

Plos Computational Biology
|December 19, 2009
PubMed
Summary

Metabolic networks are robust to gene loss and can rapidly evolve new traits. This evolutionary plasticity allows for the development of novel metabolic abilities, crucial for understanding life and engineering new solutions.

More Related Videos

Designing Automated, High-throughput, Continuous Cell Growth Experiments Using eVOLVER
07:26

Designing Automated, High-throughput, Continuous Cell Growth Experiments Using eVOLVER

Published on: May 19, 2019

Daily Transfers, Archiving Populations, and Measuring Fitness in the Long-Term Evolution Experiment with Escherichia coli
15:00

Daily Transfers, Archiving Populations, and Measuring Fitness in the Long-Term Evolution Experiment with Escherichia coli

Published on: August 18, 2023

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 17, 2026

Following the Dynamics of Structural Variants in Experimentally Evolved Populations
04:52

Following the Dynamics of Structural Variants in Experimentally Evolved Populations

Published on: February 3, 2023

Designing Automated, High-throughput, Continuous Cell Growth Experiments Using eVOLVER
07:26

Designing Automated, High-throughput, Continuous Cell Growth Experiments Using eVOLVER

Published on: May 19, 2019

Daily Transfers, Archiving Populations, and Measuring Fitness in the Long-Term Evolution Experiment with Escherichia coli
15:00

Daily Transfers, Archiving Populations, and Measuring Fitness in the Long-Term Evolution Experiment with Escherichia coli

Published on: August 18, 2023

Area of Science:

  • Systems biology
  • Evolutionary biology
  • Metabolic engineering

Background:

  • Genome-scale metabolic networks exhibit remarkable robustness to gene deletion.
  • Network evolution is driven by gene loss and horizontal gene transfer.
  • Understanding metabolic network genotype-phenotype relationships is key to evolutionary insights.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To explore the vast space of metabolic network genotypes and their corresponding phenotypes.
  • To investigate the evolutionary plasticity and robustness of metabolic networks.
  • To assess the implications for drug design and metabolic engineering.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized flux balance analysis (FBA) to model metabolic networks.
  • Studied the relationship between metabolic network genotype and phenotype (ability to utilize carbon sources).
  • Analyzed network structure, gene essentiality, and mutational pathways.

Main Results:

  • Metabolic networks with the same phenotype can have vastly different genotypes.
  • Robustness to mutations is a common characteristic of networks with similar phenotypes.
  • Networks with identical phenotypes can be reached through single mutations, enabling rapid evolution.
  • Single mutations can lead to significant shifts in metabolic capabilities, generating novel phenotypes.

Conclusions:

  • Metabolic network robustness and plasticity facilitate the evolution of new metabolic abilities.
  • The findings have broad implications for understanding metabolic evolution, mutational robustness, and the design of antimetabolic drugs.
  • This research provides a framework for metabolic engineering and synthetic biology applications.