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Bacterial intelligence: imitation games, time-sharing, and long-range quantum coherence.
Sarangam Majumdar1, Sukla Pal2
1Dipartimento di Ingegneria Scienze Informatiche e Matematica, Università degli Studi di L'Aquila, Via Vetoio - Loc. Coppito, 67010, L'Aquila, Italy. majumdarsarangam@yahoo.in.
Journal of Cell Communication and Signaling
|May 19, 2017
Summary
Bacteria exhibit complex survival strategies, utilizing chemical and electrical signaling for communication. This research explores electrical signaling
Area of Science:
- Microbiology and Systems Biology
- Cellular Communication and Bio-signaling
Background:
- Bacteria employ diverse survival strategies, including chemical and electrical signaling for communication.
- While chemical signaling is well-studied, electrical signaling in bacteria remains less explored.
- Biofilm communities exhibit complex behaviors influenced by intercellular communication.
Purpose of the Study:
- To present a novel perspective on electrical signaling in maintaining biofilm growth under nutrient scarcity.
- To highlight the role of long-range electrical signaling via potassium waves in bacterial communities.
- To explore the potential for two-way communication between artificial and natural cells.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of experimental evidence on electrical signaling between distant biofilms (Liu et al., 2017).
- Review of research on spatially propagating potassium waves in biofilms (Humphries et al., 2017).
- Consideration of artificial cell communication efficiency using cellular Turing tests (Lentini et al., 2017).
Main Results:
- Electrical signaling facilitates time-sharing behavior for biofilm survival under limited nutrients.
- Long-range electrical signaling through potassium waves influences biofilm community dynamics.
- Artificial cells show potential for imitating natural cell communication, assessed via cellular Turing tests.
Conclusions:
- Electrical signaling is a crucial, underappreciated mechanism in bacterial survival and community behavior.
- The study provides a foundation for new classical and quantum models of complex biochemical networks.
- Future research can leverage these findings to engineer novel inter-cellular communication systems.
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