Bacterial Intelligence? navigation and sensing (General)

by David Turell , Tuesday, September 03, 2024, 01:18 (80 days ago) @ David Turell

A new study:

https://phys.org/news/2024-09-discovery-bacteria-environment-infection.html

"...contrary to decades of established scientific belief, a new study has shown bacteria can in fact directly sense their chemical environment across the length of their cell bodies with an unprecedented degree of precision.

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"Dr. William Durham, Senior Lecturer in Biological Physics at the University of Sheffield's Department of Physics and Astronomy, said, "In principle, cells can figure out whether they are moving towards or away from a nutrient source in two different ways.

"'First, they can wander randomly and measure if the concentration increases or decreases over time. Alternatively, cells can measure changes in concentration over the length of their bodies, allowing them to directly move towards the source. Our research demonstrates that bacteria can do the latter, which was previously thought beyond their capabilities due to their tiny size.

"'Bacteria then use this information to navigate across surfaces toward chemical sources using tiny grappling hooks called pili."

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"...the researchers mapped out how individual cells responded to precise changes in nutrient concentrations. They uncovered that these cells can compare nutrient concentrations along the length of their cell bodies—a phenomenon termed "spatial sensing."

"Dr. Jamie Wheeler, a postdoctoral researcher in the University of Sheffield's Department of Physics and Astronomy, and lead author of the study, said, "This work overturns our understanding of how bacteria navigate and sense their environment. As such, it sheds new light on how bacteria could direct their motility during human infection and potentially how it could be manipulated by different clinical treatments.'"

Comment: this chemo-sensory ability is built into the bacterial DNA, which certainly makes them move intelligently.