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

Bacterial Signaling01:30

Bacterial Signaling

43.5K
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...
43.5K
Yeast Signaling01:28

Yeast Signaling

18.5K
Yeasts are single-celled organisms, but unlike bacteria, they are eukaryotes (cells with a nucleus). Cell signaling in yeast is similar to signaling in other eukaryotic cells. A ligand, such as a protein or a small molecule released from a yeast cell, attaches to a receptor on the cell surface. The binding stimulates second-messenger kinases to activate or inactivate transcription factors that further regulate gene expression. Many of the yeast intracellular signaling cascades have similar...
18.5K
Gene Regulation in Microbial Communities: Quorum Sensing01:28

Gene Regulation in Microbial Communities: Quorum Sensing

912
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,...
912
Global Regulatory Systems01:28

Global Regulatory Systems

922
Global regulatory systems in bacteria enable rapid and coordinated responses to environmental changes by integrating sensory inputs with gene expression, ensuring efficient adaptation to fluctuating conditions. Key global regulatory mechanisms include regulons, two-component systems, sigma factors, and secondary messengers.Regulons and Global RegulatorsA regulon is a collection of genes and operons controlled by a common global regulator. These regulators enable bacteria to prioritize resource...
922
Operon Model01:23

Operon Model

2.2K
The operon model represents a fundamental mechanism of gene regulation in prokaryotes, enabling coordinated expression of genes involved in related metabolic or functional pathways. Operons consist of structural genes, a promoter, and an operator, with transcription regulated by repressors, activators, and small effector molecules.Structure and Function of OperonsAn operon is a cluster of structural genes transcribed together under the control of a single promoter. The promoter region...
2.2K
Overview of Cell Signaling01:23

Overview of Cell Signaling

26.9K
Despite the protective membrane that separates a cell from the environment, cells need the ability to detect and respond to environmental changes. Additionally, cells often need to communicate with one another. Unicellular and multicellular organisms use a variety of cell signaling mechanisms to communicate with the environment.
Cells respond to many types of information, often through receptor proteins positioned on the membrane. For example, skin cells respond to and transmit touch...
26.9K

You might also read

Related Articles

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

Sort by
Same author

Cellular coordination underpins rapid reversals in gliding filamentous cyanobacteria and its loss results in plectonemes.

eLife·2025
Same author

Niche formation and metabolic interactions contribute to stable diversity in a spatially structured cyanobacterial community.

The ISME journal·2025
Same author

Single-Cell Analysis with Spatiotemporal Control of Local pH.

ACS measurement science au·2025
Same author

Emergence of synchronized growth oscillations in filamentous fungi.

Journal of the Royal Society, Interface·2024
Same author

Ammonia leakage can underpin nitrogen-sharing among soil microorganisms.

The ISME journal·2024
Same author

Thioflavin T indicates mitochondrial membrane potential in mammalian cells.

Biophysical reports·2023
Same journal

RNA-ligand complexes and the attenuation of neutral confinement in the evolution of RNA secondary structures.

Journal of the Royal Society, Interface·2026
Same journal

Individual detachment-reintegration events in homing pigeon flocks and the dominance of directional adjustment in their kinematic features.

Journal of the Royal Society, Interface·2026
Same journal

Thermal stress disrupts symbiotic fluid dynamics in bobtail squid.

Journal of the Royal Society, Interface·2026
Same journal

Distinct geometrical landscapes distinguish between modes of tristability in gene regulatory networks.

Journal of the Royal Society, Interface·2026
Same journal

Slow modulation of the contraction patterns in Physarum polycephalum.

Journal of the Royal Society, Interface·2026
Same journal

Moo-ving mountains: grazing agents drive terracette formation on steep hillslopes.

Journal of the Royal Society, Interface·2026
See all related articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Apr 11, 2026

Reliably Engineering and Controlling Stable Optogenetic Gene Circuits in Mammalian Cells
09:20

Reliably Engineering and Controlling Stable Optogenetic Gene Circuits in Mammalian Cells

Published on: July 6, 2021

2.9K

Unlimited multistability and Boolean logic in microbial signalling.

Varun B Kothamachu1, Elisenda Feliu2, Luca Cardelli3

  • 1Systems Biology Program, College of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK.

Journal of the Royal Society, Interface
|June 5, 2015
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Microbial cells use multi-domain histidine kinase (HK) receptors to achieve multistability, enabling complex signal processing. This discovery reveals a novel biochemical mechanism for cellular computation and signal mapping in microbes.

Keywords:
Boolean logicmulti-domain proteinsmultistabilityprokaryotessynthetic biologytwo component signalling networks

More Related Videos

Live Cell Fluorescence Microscopy to Observe Essential Processes During Microbial Cell Growth
07:28

Live Cell Fluorescence Microscopy to Observe Essential Processes During Microbial Cell Growth

Published on: November 24, 2017

16.9K
Light-Controlled Fermentations for Microbial Chemical and Protein Production
08:37

Light-Controlled Fermentations for Microbial Chemical and Protein Production

Published on: March 22, 2022

4.8K

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Apr 11, 2026

Reliably Engineering and Controlling Stable Optogenetic Gene Circuits in Mammalian Cells
09:20

Reliably Engineering and Controlling Stable Optogenetic Gene Circuits in Mammalian Cells

Published on: July 6, 2021

2.9K
Live Cell Fluorescence Microscopy to Observe Essential Processes During Microbial Cell Growth
07:28

Live Cell Fluorescence Microscopy to Observe Essential Processes During Microbial Cell Growth

Published on: November 24, 2017

16.9K
Light-Controlled Fermentations for Microbial Chemical and Protein Production
08:37

Light-Controlled Fermentations for Microbial Chemical and Protein Production

Published on: March 22, 2022

4.8K

Area of Science:

  • Microbiology
  • Systems Biology
  • Biochemistry

Background:

  • Single-celled microbes critically rely on mapping environmental signals to physiological states.
  • Multistability is a key systems dynamics feature for this signal mapping.
  • Existing mechanisms for unlimited multistability, like multi-site phosphorylation in eukaryotes, lack a microbial equivalent.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To develop a mathematical framework for analyzing microbial signaling systems with multi-domain histidine kinase (HK) receptors.
  • To identify a novel biochemical mechanism for multistability in microbial signaling.
  • To explore the computational capabilities, including Boolean logic functions, of these systems.

Main Methods:

  • Mathematical framework development for analyzing hybrid and unorthodox HKs.
  • Analysis of steady states achievable with multi-domain HKs.
  • Application of the framework to experimentally studied two-component systems.

Main Results:

  • A novel biochemical mechanism for multistability in microbial signaling systems was identified.
  • Systems with n multi-domain hybrid HKs can achieve 3n steady states.
  • Demonstrated implementation of Boolean logic functions and bistability under biologically feasible conditions.
  • Prevalence of hybrid and unorthodox HKs across sequenced microbial genomes.

Conclusions:

  • Microbial cells possess a theoretically unbounded capacity for signal processing and computation.
  • The identified mechanism provides a new understanding of natural two-component systems.
  • Findings facilitate the engineering of microbial systems through synthetic biology.