Reference library
Foundations
Explore concepts, laws, equations and methods, with clear explanations of their use and sources. Choose an area of study or find a specific entry.
More filters
Organisms & physiology
Showing 1–30 of 50 reference entries
Bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes differ in important cellular organization.
DefinitionBiologyXylem and phloem transportVascular plants move water and organic solutes through different transport tissues.
ModelBiologyGas exchange and internal transportDiffusion across exchange surfaces and bulk transport serve different roles.
ModelBiologyNeural membrane and synaptic signallingMembrane electrical changes and synapses connect neural cells.
ModelBiologyHormones and receptor-dependent responsesAnimal hormones influence cells that possess appropriate response machinery.
ModelBiologyRenal filtration and osmoregulationKidney tubules modify filtered fluid through selective transport.
ModelBiologyInnate and adaptive immune principlesBarrier and recognition mechanisms cooperate with antigen-specific responses.
ModelBiologyReproduction and sexual life-cycle patternsThe placement of meiosis and fertilization differs among life cycles.
DefinitionBiologyDevelopment and cell differentiationRegulated cell states, division and spatial organization produce multicellular form.
ModelBiology · Physics · ChemistryIon equilibrium potentials and membrane current balanceAn ion's equilibrium potential balances its chemical and electrical driving terms.
ModelBiologyUbiquitin, proteasomes and lysosomal turnoverEukaryotic protein abundance depends on synthesis and degradation.
ModelBiologyCaspases and mitochondrial/death-receptor apoptosisIn representative animal apoptosis pathways, activated initiator caspases promote an execution cascade that cleaves cellular targets.
ModelBiologyBase excision versus nucleotide excision repairBase-excision repair begins when a glycosylase removes a recognized damaged base, leaving a site that is processed and restored by DNA synthesis and ligation.
ModelBiologyNonhomologous DNA end joiningEnd joining can restore continuity of a double-strand-broken DNA molecule without using a long homologous donor template.
ModelBiologySensory transduction and graded receptor potentialsSensory receptors convert appropriate physical or chemical stimuli into changes in cellular electrical signalling.
ModelBiologyExperimental units and biological inferenceThe experimental unit is the entity independently assigned to a treatment in a specified design.
MethodBiologyNephron transport and the concentrating gradientIn the mammalian nephron model, selective tubular transport modifies filtered fluid.
ModelBiologyVasopressin and renal sodium-water controlVasopressin released from the posterior pituitary can increase collecting-duct water permeability through aquaporin insertion.
ModelBiologyEndocrine axes and negative feedbackIn the vertebrate thyroid-axis example, hypothalamic signals stimulate pituitary hormone release, which stimulates the thyroid.
ModelBiologyHormonal coordination of glucose storage and releaseIn the mammalian model, pancreatic insulin and glucagon coordinate nutrient use and storage with blood-glucose availability.
ModelBiologyRespiratory partial pressures and oxygen transportGases diffuse across respiratory surfaces down their own partial-pressure gradients.
ModelBiologyVentilation, pressure and alveolar surface tensionMammalian ventilation moves air when respiratory-muscle action changes thoracic volume and pressure.
ModelBiologyMammalian cardiac conduction and blood flowCoordinated electrical activation drives atrial and ventricular contractions.
ModelBiologyActin–myosin cycling and contraction controlMyosin interaction with actin converts ATP-dependent molecular cycling into force.
ModelBiologyNeural and hormonal coordination of digestionIn the vertebrate digestive example, signals coordinate secretion, motility and delivery of material between compartments.
ModelBiologyAntigen presentation and lymphocyte specificityIn jawed-vertebrate adaptive immunity, B-cell receptors recognize suitable antigen structures, while T-cell receptors recognize antigen presented with appropriate MHC molecules.
ModelBiologyOperons and integrated bacterial transcription controlIn the E. coli lac example, a repressor and a cAMP-linked activator integrate lactose-related and glucose-related conditions to regulate transcription.
ModelBiologyPost-transcriptional RNA stability and silencingRNA-binding proteins, RNA processing and degradation influence how long a transcript remains available for translation.
ModelBiologyDevelopmental induction and positional informationSignals from one embryonic region can influence cell fate in another.
ModelBiologyDiploid viability selection as a recurrenceIn a random-mating diploid model, genotype frequencies are reweighted by relative survival and normalized by mean fitness.
Model