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

37.9K
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...
37.9K
Overview of Cell Signaling01:23

Overview of Cell Signaling

22.5K
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...
22.5K
What is Cell Signaling?02:03

What is Cell Signaling?

125.5K
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 to respond to the environment.
125.5K
Gene Regulation in Microbial Communities: Quorum Sensing01:28

Gene Regulation in Microbial Communities: Quorum Sensing

183
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,...
183
Yeast Signaling01:28

Yeast Signaling

16.4K
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...
16.4K
Contact-dependent Signaling01:19

Contact-dependent Signaling

45.6K
Contact-dependent signaling, as the name suggests, requires that communicating cells be in direct contact with each other. This is achieved either through receptor-ligand interactions or by specialized cytoplasmic channels that allow the flow of small molecules between cells. In animal cells, channels called gap junctions facilitate contact-dependent signaling in certain tissues, whereas, plasmodesmata perform a similar function in plants.
Gap Junctions
In animal cells, gap junctions are formed...
45.6K

You might also read

Related Articles

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

Sort by
Same author

Structural classification, biosynthesis, metabolic engineering and ecological functions for the terpenes produced in tobacco.

Frontiers in plant science·2026
Same author

Femtosecond laser solid-phase synthesis of semi-encapsulated Pd catalysts for stable ethanol oxidation reaction.

Nanoscale·2026
Same author

Enhancing Enzyme Activity With Mutation Combinations Guided by Few-Shot Learning and Causal Inference.

Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English)·2026
Same author

Absorptive root traits shape phosphorus acquisition strategies defined by trade-offs between phosphorus uptake and utilization under soil nutrient limitation and drought stress.

Tree physiology·2026
Same author

Mechanism and application of <i>Akkermansia muciniphila</i> in inflammatory diseases.

Frontiers in cellular and infection microbiology·2026
Same author

CRISPR-enhanced ELISA based on ssDNA-triggered Cas13a-Csm6 cascade for sensitive profiling of inflammatory biomarkers in sports-related osteoarthritis among martial arts athletes.

Methods (San Diego, Calif.)·2026
Same journal

Environmental microbes as modulators of plant volatile landscapes: Implications for plant-insect chemical communication.

Trends in microbiology·2026
Same journal

Beyond AMGs: Phage-encoded transcription and sigma factors as understudied virocell reprogramming tools.

Trends in microbiology·2026
Same journal

Cronobacter spp.

Trends in microbiology·2026
Same journal

Anaerobic lignin deconstruction: A game changer for lignocellulosic biorefineries.

Trends in microbiology·2026
Same journal

Critical role of the inflammatory rheostat in influenza-associated pulmonary aspergillosis.

Trends in microbiology·2026
Same journal

Structure-based prokaryotic transcription shapes adaptation and host-invader interplay.

Trends in microbiology·2026
See all related articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Nov 4, 2025

An Optogenetic Method to Control and Analyze Gene Expression Patterns in Cell-to-cell Interactions
07:59

An Optogenetic Method to Control and Analyze Gene Expression Patterns in Cell-to-cell Interactions

Published on: March 22, 2018

7.9K

Vertical and horizontal quorum-sensing-based multicellular communications.

Shengbo Wu1, Chengyang Xu2, Jiaheng Liu2

  • 1School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China; State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China; Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering (Tianjin), Tianjin, 300072, China.

Trends in Microbiology
|May 22, 2021
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Quorum sensing (QS) controls microbial communities. This review explores QS communication networks in natural and synthetic systems, detailing vertical and horizontal interactions and future engineering challenges.

Keywords:
cell–cell communicationgut microbiotamicrobial social networkphage–bacterium–host interactionssynthetic ecologysynthetic microbial consortia

More Related Videos

Single-cell Microinjection for Cell Communication Analysis
09:59

Single-cell Microinjection for Cell Communication Analysis

Published on: February 26, 2017

11.5K
Time-lapse Imaging of Bacterial Swarms and the Collective Stress Response
06:26

Time-lapse Imaging of Bacterial Swarms and the Collective Stress Response

Published on: May 23, 2020

8.5K

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Nov 4, 2025

An Optogenetic Method to Control and Analyze Gene Expression Patterns in Cell-to-cell Interactions
07:59

An Optogenetic Method to Control and Analyze Gene Expression Patterns in Cell-to-cell Interactions

Published on: March 22, 2018

7.9K
Single-cell Microinjection for Cell Communication Analysis
09:59

Single-cell Microinjection for Cell Communication Analysis

Published on: February 26, 2017

11.5K
Time-lapse Imaging of Bacterial Swarms and the Collective Stress Response
06:26

Time-lapse Imaging of Bacterial Swarms and the Collective Stress Response

Published on: May 23, 2020

8.5K

Area of Science:

  • Microbiology
  • Synthetic Biology
  • Systems Biology

Background:

  • Quorum sensing (QS) is crucial for microbial communication and behavior in both natural and synthetic environments.
  • QS systems involve complex multilayer controls, biomolecular crosstalk, and population-level interactions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review and categorize complex QS-based interactions into vertical and horizontal types.
  • To highlight the manipulation of QS for synthetic microbial consortia and applications.
  • To identify challenges in engineering QS communication networks.

Main Methods:

  • Literature review and synthesis of existing research on quorum sensing.
  • Categorization of QS interactions into vertical (e.g., phage-bacteria-host) and horizontal (e.g., synthetic consortia) frameworks.
  • Analysis of current and emerging applications of engineered QS networks.

Main Results:

  • QS interactions can be broadly classified as vertical (in natural systems) or horizontal (in synthetic systems).
  • Manipulation of QS enables sophisticated control over synthetic microbial consortia.
  • Engineered QS communication networks show promise in diverse applications within natural and synthetic microbiota.

Conclusions:

  • Understanding and engineering QS communication networks is key for advancing microbial systems.
  • Future research should focus on overcoming challenges in designing complex QS networks for specific applications.
  • QS engineering offers powerful tools for microbiome manipulation and synthetic biology.