life inspired

"bacteria, seemingly the most basic and solitary of life forms, are, in fact, communicating with each other. They are counting themselves, their cousin species, and the unrelated 'others' in their vicinity and changing their behavior as a group in response to the results of this census. Researchers who study this behavior, known as quorum sensing, believe this ability is the origin of multicellularity and communal behavior. It may also yield important practical benefits, such as new approaches for combating drug-resistant bacterial infections in humans." Full article @ PNAS

Labels: bacteria, collective behavior, quorum sensing

"The opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa uses a cell-cell communication system termed “quorum sensing” to control production of public goods, extracellular products that can be used by any community member. Not all individuals respond to quorum-sensing signals and synthesize public goods. Such social cheaters enjoy the benefits of the products secreted by cooperators. There are some P. aeruginosa cellular enzymes controlled by quorum sensing, and we show that quorum sensing–controlled expression of such private goods can put a metabolic constraint on social cheating and prevent a tragedy of the commons." Full report @ Science

Labels: bacteria, collective intelligence, cooperation, quorum sensing, tragedy of commons

"It may not be quite as sophisticated or cerebral as Starfleet’s bio-neural computing gel packs, but scientists have made a start towards this sort of tech by making bacteria solve a math problem. The team from Davidson College and Missouri Western State University added genes to the harmless Escherichia coli, normally found wiggling its way ’round your gut. The result was a bacterial computer able to solve the classic mathematical puzzle called the Burnt Pancake Problem… kind of fitting for a gut bacterium, no?". Full article Gizmodo Australia

Labels: bacteria, natural computing

"a novel nature-inspired heuristic optimization algorithm: bacterial foraging algorithm with varying population (BFAVP), based on a more bacterially-realistic model of bacterial foraging patterns, which incorporates a varying population framework and the underlying mechanisms of bacterial chemotaxis, metabolism, proliferation, elimination and quorum sensing. In order to evaluate its merits, BFAVP has been tested on several benchmark functions and the results show that it performs better than other popularly used EAs, in terms of both accuracy and convergency." Full paper @ Biosystems.

Labels: bacteria, foraging, quorum sensing

"...cooperation between species can be evolved in the laboratory if (1) there is preexisting reciprocation or feedback for cooperation, and (2) reciprocation is preferentially received by cooperative genotypes. [...] Growth in a spatially structured environment assured that the benefits of cooperation were preferentially received by cooperative genotypes. [...] cooperation disappeared if the waste consumption or spatial structure were removed." "This also happened when the bacteria were grown in flasks, suggesting that spatial structure of the bacterial colonies is needed for cooperation to evolve". Full article @ Evolution

Labels: bacteria, cooperation

"Scientists have engineered bacteria that can communicate with each other in a synchronized manner, lighting up in waves of fluorescent green [...] The engineered cells also offer a new model system for studying emergent systems, or how complex properties -- such as synchronized oscillation -- arise from simpler starting materials -- a two genes network." Full article @ The Scientist.

Labels: bacteria, complexity, dynamical systems

"To take control of biological systems, Tabor et al. argue, we need the ability to predict the behavior of complex genetic programs, which are analogous in some ways to electronic circuits that allow logical operations in computers. One strategy to obtain such an understanding is to build such circuits and to observe and to model mathematically their behavior. Tabor et al. used a combination of simple genetic circuits in combination to build a program that allowed a layer of bacteria on a Petri dish to function as an "edge detector" sensitive to areas of transition between high and low illumination (light-dark)." Editor's choice at Science Signaling.

Article:
J. J. Tabor, H. M. Salis, Z. B. Simpson, A. A. Chevalier, A. Levskaya, E. M. Marcotte, C. A. Voight, A. D. Ellington. A synthetic genetic edge detection program. Cell 137, 1272–1281 (2009).

Labels: bacteria, gene circuits

From Mike Conover:
"Bonnie Bassler discovered that bacteria "talk" to each other, using a chemical language that lets them coordinate defense and mount attacks. The find has stunning implications for medicine, industry -- and our understanding of ourselves." See follow-up interview. TED Blog: The secret, social lives of bacteria: Exclusive interview with Bonnie Bassler

Labels: bacteria, collective intelligence, communication, semiotics

"Scientists at San Diego–based Genomatica, Inc., have announced success in manipulating the bacteria to directly produce butanediol (BDO), a chemical compound used to make everything from spandex to car bumpers, thereby providing a more energy-efficient way of making it without oil or natural gas." Full article @
Scientific American

Labels: bacteria, bio-materials

A team engineers microbes to perform AND, OR, NAND and NOR logic operations. Full story @Science News

Labels: bacteria, natural computing

"DNA transfer from bacteria to animals is more common than thought. Researchers have found a surprise hidden in the DNA of a fruitfly: what seems to be the entire genome of a parasitic bacterium called Wolbachia. Smaller bits of the promiscuous parasite's genetic material turned up in worms and wasps, too." Full Sttory @ news@nature.com

Labels: bacteria, dna, DNA transfer, information

"Microbes in oil deposits withstand enormous hydrocarbon loads, intense heat, high salt and immense pressure. How can we put them to work for us?" Full article @ The Scientist

Labels: bacteria

An entire bacterial genome has been reconstructed by stitching together chemically synthesized DNA fragments, bringing the prospect of an artificial living organism one step closer. Full story @ Nature Biotechnology

The actual paper by Gibson et al detailing the process of obtaining a synthetic genome.

Labels: bacteria, synthetic biology