Free Methods of Chemical Communication in the GI Essay Sample

Studies in bigger organisms have lead to a discovery of chemical signalling through production of small molecules, a good example of these small molecules are hormones.  The molecules in this chemical communication play a very important role in maintaining physiological homeostasis and facilitating organism to respond to external environments. In real sense not only in the larger organisms but also in small ones, that produces hormone like molecules that easily diffuse and by so doing they send a signal to the neighbouring cell, in the process of development, survival and adaption with the populations. Most individuals base the chemical communication in the gastrointestinal tract from the study of multicellular eukaryotes, but from the resent studies it is now evident that bacteria can also send signals using sophisticated system which is analogous compare to those in higher organisms. Chemical communication has importance to both humans and microbes, identifying, detecting, and studying, studying these communications can further lead to understanding of the importance of chemical interplay that exist between microbiota and together with their hosts and thus provides us with undiscovered molecules that can be used for human benefit.

Three methods of chemical communication in the GI

Mammalian Gut as an environment for chemical communication

During and after birth, human beings are highly affected by different complex microbes. These associations of microbes that affect life in the first ear of human life are known as microflora, microbiota or mocrobiome and are very rich, they contain over 10⁴ cells.  The population is always harmless and in deed are useful for sustenance of good health. Microbes colonize our genitourinary tract, skin, gastrointestinal, and respiratory tract. In has been proven that the number of microbes in and on our body exceeds our own cells and also in the cell magnitude, the microbes have a higher one than our cells. Every individual has over 1000 distinct microbes in the intestinal tract and the overall human microbiome has hover 35,000 species of microbes. This calls for extensive microbial interactions as to meet their role in the human body system through signalling. Becteroides thetaiomicron, is a good example of a microbe present in the human gut. It produces communication chemicals to control the host gene epithelial surface and expression. By so doing it facilitates and controls the availability of nutrients to the surrounding cells thus enhancing their growth.

Microbial chemical communication

Much of our knowledge is about the signalling that exists in mammalian and plant organised in their hormonal system. In the resent years further studies have explored this field and discovered that chemical communication also exist in the bacteria and this calls for more empirical analysis. Bacteria can sense, produce, and respond to small–molecule communication that facilitates their coordination. This was discovered in the1960s y different research organisations such as Alexander Tomasz incorporation and acquisition of foreign DNA Woodland Hasting on Vibrio fischeri and streptococcus pneumoniae luminescence led to discovery. This discovery exposed that self-produced molecule that are diffusible and played a crucial role in the life of the microbes. At that time it was not fully accepted but as time passed it was accepted that many bacterial species communicates with each other or the host through production of small chemicals. This kind of chemical communication helps in the multiplication of the bacteria in reference to the defence mechanism in the gut of any organism, both small and big.

Chemical communication in complex environments

Bacterial signalling studies have emphasised on laboratory-grown, pure cultures of different microorganisms. However, the setting is artificial; in their hosts and the environments, microbes live and associate with many other species and they do present themselves within the available opportunities through competition and cooperation. In this case a good example is, elevated “not natural” concentration, we all know that microbial communication molecules may end up having antimicrobial properties. When these antibiotics are produced, by the microbes in that environment, it is unlikely to find them at high concentrations where they can cause antimicrobial activity. From that analysis it is possible that their main biological role is to regulate the expression of bacterial gene other than causing poisoning effect in the tract. This communication in the gut of the mammals helps in ensuring that bacterial infections are minimized.

 

Have NO Inspiration
to write your essay?

Ask for Professional help