Bacteria build communities using chemical signals comparable to radio waves

The thought of a socially organized community ofbacteria joining together might seem like a gross idea at first.

There are important implications for human health from causing illness to aiding digestion. They are involved in a range of emerging technologies meant to protect the environment and generate clean energy.

New UCLA-led research could give scientists insights that will help them cultivate useful microbes or clear dangerous ones from surfaces where biofilms have formed, including on tissues and organs in the human body. A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science describes how a chemical signal can be used to communicate between organisms.

Concentration levels of a messenger molecule called c-di-GMP can change over time and across generations ofbacteria, as shown by the investigators. The study found thatbacteria use chemical signal waves to tell their descendants what to do.

It's similar to how information is stored in AM and FM radio waves.

A large number of cells are controlled at the same time by the same signals, according to the corresponding author.

It is possible to stop the formation of biofilms in people with cystic fibrosis.

Enhancement of the ability to cultivate biofilms would be helpful in other situations, for example to protect people from disease-causing microbes or to fortify colonies of goodbacteria in the human gut. Scientists and engineers at UCLA are working to develop a way to break down plastic, eat industrial waste, and even generate electricity from a fuel cell.

The study adds to the understanding of the mechanisms that lead to biofilms. Over the last 20 years or so, the current paradigm has held that when a bacterium senses a surface, it starts producing c-di-GMP, which in turn causes the bacterium to attach to the surface. The levels of c-di-GMP in the cells of the biofilm are higher.

Calvin Lee, a UCLA graduate student, along with Wong and their teammates, published a paper on biofilm research focusing on the ability ofbacteria to communicate from one generation to another. The current study shows how the signal waves of different heights and different frequencies can be transmitted by a cell to its descendants.

The chemical signals are similar to AM radio, which uses the height of a radio wave and the number of frequencies to create a signal.

The researchers used big data and artificial intelligence to identify three important factors that control the formation of biofilm: average levels of c-di-GMP, the frequency of oscillations in c-di-GMP levels, and the degree of cell movement on the surface.

The existing paradigm is that one input produces one output, with increasing levels of the signal leading to biofilm formation. You have to look at more things in order to get the full picture.

More information: Calvin K. Lee et al, Broadcasting of amplitude- and frequency-modulated c-di-GMP signals facilitates cooperative surface commitment in bacterial lineages, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2022). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2112226119 Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Citation: Bacteria build communities using chemical signals comparable to radio waves (2022, January 27) retrieved 27 January 2022 from https://phys.org/news/2022-01-bacteria-chemical-radio.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.