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

Biological Methods for Microbial Control01:28

Biological Methods for Microbial Control

731
Biological agents offer an effective means of controlling microbial growth by leveraging natural processes like predation, competition, and the secretion of antimicrobial substances.Predatory bacteria such as Bdellovibrio species target and kill pathogens like Salmonella and E. coli. They are widely used in poultry farms to control infections. Myxococcus species help combat plant-pathogenic fungi. These naturally occurring predators serve as eco-friendly alternatives to chemical pesticides and...
731
Gene Regulation in Microbial Communities: Quorum Sensing01:28

Gene Regulation in Microbial Communities: Quorum Sensing

437
Quorum sensing is a mechanism of bacterial communication that enables coordinated gene expression in response to changes in population density. This facilitates collective behaviors that enhance survival, resource acquisition, and ecological adaptation. This process relies on small signaling molecules called autoinducers that accumulate as bacterial populations grow. When a critical threshold concentration of autoinducers is reached, bacterial cells collectively modify gene expression,...
437
Translational Regulation01:29

Translational Regulation

477
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,...
477
Bacterial Signaling01:30

Bacterial Signaling

39.9K
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...
39.9K
Feedback Inhibition00:46

Feedback Inhibition

56.7K
Biochemical reactions are occurring constantly in cells, converting starting substances to different products, usually with the help of enzymes that speed the reactions. Without enzymes, it would take far too long for most reactions to occur to be useful to the cell!
56.7K
Prokaryotic Transcriptional Activators and Repressors01:58

Prokaryotic Transcriptional Activators and Repressors

25.1K
The organization of prokaryotic genes in their genome is notably different from that of eukaryotes. Prokaryotic genes are organized, such that the genes for proteins involved in the same biochemical process or function are located together in groups. This group of genes, along with their regulatory elements, are collectively known as an operon. The functional genes in an operon are transcribed together to give a single strand of mRNA known as polycistronic mRNA.
Transcription of prokaryotic...
25.1K

You might also read

Related Articles

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

Sort by
Same author

In vitro selected GUAA tetraloop-binding receptors with structural plasticity and evolvability towards natural RNA structural modules.

Nucleic acids research·2021
Same author

Ribosome engineering reveals the importance of 5S rRNA autonomy for ribosome assembly.

Nature communications·2020
Same author

Truncated tetrahedral RNA nanostructures exhibit enhanced features for delivery of RNAi substrates.

Nanoscale·2020
Same author

Secondary Structural Model of Human MALAT1 Reveals Multiple Structure-Function Relationships.

International journal of molecular sciences·2019
Same author

Responsive self-assembly of tectoRNAs with loop-receptor interactions from the tetrahydrofolate (THF) riboswitch.

Nucleic acids research·2019
Same author

Deducing putative ancestral forms of GNRA/receptor interactions from the ribosome.

Nucleic acids research·2018

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jan 3, 2026

Single-cell Microfluidic Analysis of Bacillus subtilis
10:37

Single-cell Microfluidic Analysis of Bacillus subtilis

Published on: January 26, 2018

12.5K

Downward causation by information control in micro-organisms.

Luc Jaeger1, Erin R Calkins

  • 1Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry , University of California , Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9510 , USA ; Biomolecular Science and Engineering Program , University of California , Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9510 , USA.

Interface Focus
|February 7, 2013
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Functional equivalence and information control demonstrate top-down causation (TDC) in synthetic biology. This framework explains cellular operations and identifies essential properties for life, aiding synthetic biology and evolutionary studies.

Keywords:
RNA evolutionRNA worldconvergenceconvergent evolutioninformation selectionmolecular complexity

More Related Videos

Quantification of Information Encoded by Gene Expression Levels During Lifespan Modulation Under Broad-range Dietary Restriction in C. elegans
09:23

Quantification of Information Encoded by Gene Expression Levels During Lifespan Modulation Under Broad-range Dietary Restriction in C. elegans

Published on: August 16, 2017

8.5K
Establishment of a High-throughput Setup for Screening Small Molecules That Modulate c-di-GMP Signaling in Pseudomonas aeruginosa
11:31

Establishment of a High-throughput Setup for Screening Small Molecules That Modulate c-di-GMP Signaling in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Published on: June 30, 2016

9.1K

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jan 3, 2026

Single-cell Microfluidic Analysis of Bacillus subtilis
10:37

Single-cell Microfluidic Analysis of Bacillus subtilis

Published on: January 26, 2018

12.5K
Quantification of Information Encoded by Gene Expression Levels During Lifespan Modulation Under Broad-range Dietary Restriction in C. elegans
09:23

Quantification of Information Encoded by Gene Expression Levels During Lifespan Modulation Under Broad-range Dietary Restriction in C. elegans

Published on: August 16, 2017

8.5K
Establishment of a High-throughput Setup for Screening Small Molecules That Modulate c-di-GMP Signaling in Pseudomonas aeruginosa
11:31

Establishment of a High-throughput Setup for Screening Small Molecules That Modulate c-di-GMP Signaling in Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Published on: June 30, 2016

9.1K

Area of Science:

  • Systems Biology
  • Synthetic Biology
  • Evolutionary Biology

Background:

  • Living systems exhibit complex information processing.
  • Downward causation (TDC) is a key concept in understanding biological organization.
  • Functional equivalence classes offer a framework for analyzing biological control.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To analyze published experiments demonstrating functional equivalence classes in microbes.
  • To interpret these findings as evidence for top-down causation (TDC) by information control.
  • To propose a biological framework for understanding causality in cellular systems.

Main Methods:

  • Re-analysis of published microbiology and synthetic biology experiments.
  • Application of concepts of functional equivalence classes and information control.
  • Utilizing a 'retro-synthetic' biology approach.

Main Results:

  • Identified multiple classes of functional equivalence in microbial organisms.
  • Interpreted these classes as strong evidence for TDC by information control.
  • Proposed a biological framework illustrating TDC within the cellular operating system.

Conclusions:

  • Top-down causation (TDC) by information control is demonstrated in cellular systems.
  • TDC and adaptive selection are proposed as essential downward causal mechanisms for life.
  • These concepts can guide synthetic biology and inform evolutionary studies of molecular complexity.