Bacteria found memory

Bacteria found memory
Bacteria found memory
Anonim

Films composed of many bacteria remembered a drawing artificially created by scientists with the help of light. The researchers compared the discovered memory mechanism with the neural one and predicted its application in future computing systems based on colonies of microorganisms.

Scientists recently discovered that bacteria in colonies can "communicate" with each other through ion channels. Now in a laboratory at the University of California, a team of researchers tested whether systems made up of many microorganisms have collective memory. The results of the work were published in the Cell Systems journal.

Colony of bacteria Bacillus subtilis brought to light show. But instead of holding a performance for the tiny spectators, they themselves were made part of the performance. A thin bacterial film was exposed to light, as a result of which the potentials of the cell membranes of microorganisms changed. The impressions from the "concert" were unforgettable. Optical prints, made in the form of the old logo of the University of California, were stored in the "memory" of bacteria for several hours. As a result, the experimenters obtained a controlled image with a "resolution" of one bacterium.

Former UCLA logo, created with a bacteria memory mechanism less than the thickness of a human hair

Scientists immediately drew a previously impossible analogy between the simplest unicellular organisms and complex highly organized neurons - the cells of the nervous system.

“Even a few years ago, we did not think that bacterial cells and neurons could be anything alike, because they are completely different cells,” said Professor Gürol Suel, one of the authors of the study. brain, but in a more accessible system for experiments. If we understand how something as complex as a neuron came about, we have a better chance of understanding how it works."

Bacteria are the most abundant life forms on the planet. If their memory is subordinated to science, one can go beyond achieving research goals. Scientists plan to learn how to make calculations based on bacterial systems.

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