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▎WuXi AppTec Content Team Editor As a class of simple organisms, bacteria are often insulated from complex structures in our eyes
.
After all, not to mention higher animals and plants, even the fungal kingdom has intelligent life with collective consciousness like slime mold
.
In the bacterial community, some seem to have only tiny individuals with simple structures
.
However, a new study in the latest issue of the journal Cell may change the way you think about bacteria
.
A multinational research team led by Professor Gürol Süel at the University of California, San Diego has discovered that biofilms made of bacteria can be more advanced than we thought
.
These bacteria can aggregate to form very complex patterns of concentric circles, a phenomenon previously observed only in higher organisms such as plants and animals
.
▲When nutrients are deficient, the biofilm formed by Bacillus subtilis forms a pattern of concentric circles (Image source: Kwang-Tao Chou) The so-called biofilm is a community formed by the aggregation of microorganisms
.
From the corners of your kitchen, to the plaque on your teeth, biofilms are ubiquitous in the real world
.
Previous research has found that bacterial biofilms may be more complex and intelligent than you might think - they can communicate with each other through complex systems; they can also have a "memory" that can remember light stimuli from hours ago.
.
.
and The latest research focuses on how biofilms respond to nutrient deprivation
.
The research team collected Bacillus subtilis, which is commonly found in soil, and grown it in petri dishes to examine the biofilms it formed
.
As a result, the researchers observed interesting phenomena
.
Bacillus subtilis requires a nitrogen source to grow, and when there is a lack of available nitrogen in the petri dish, the biofilm grows in a pattern that resembles concentric circles, similar to the segmenting of animal embryonic development and the growth of tree rings, but Only it is not the familiar form of biofilm
.
▲The process of biofilm segmenting and forming concentric circles (Image source: Kwang-Tao Chou) How did this complex pattern, which was only observed in higher organisms in the past, appear in bacteria? The research team explained it with the help of mathematical models
.
As the biofilm expands outward and consumes nutrients, where nutrients are depleted, certain bacteria are "frozen" and dormant through spore formation in response to the stress of nutrient starvation
.
At this time, the nutrient deficiency is like a wave, transmitted between the cells of the biofilm
.
Because not all bacteria have genes that reduce stress and adapt through sporulation, the differences in how different bacteria behave will create the concentric patterns we see
.
▲ Stressed bacteria (green) and bacteria in a spore state (purple) (Image credit: Kwang-Tao Chou) It is worth noting that this process is consistent with the "clock and wavefront" model previously proposed by geneticists
.
The model was originally designed to explain the process of embryonic development in animals: the embryo's "clock" dictates the emergence of different stages
.
In this experiment, relatively inferior bacteria could also be explained by the same model: bacteria that were originally clustered also became segmented due to different states
.
"We saw that biofilms are more complex than we thought," says Prof.
Süel.
"From a biological point of view, our results show that cells develop specific patterns earlier than expected
.
Obviously, it is not only vertebrates and plants that can segment themselves in time and space, and such behavior may be traced back to 1 billion years ago
.
” ▲ Biofilms form concentric structures through the “clock and wavefront” model Schematic diagram (Image source: Reference [1]) This discovery not only shows for the first time the complex patterns formed by bacteria, but will also have implications for several fields of research
.
Since biofilms are so common in our lives, they have applications in medicine, the food industry and even the military
.
In addition, the ability of biofilm systems to verify how simple cellular systems can self-organize into complex patterns will also facilitate the study of the effects of clock and waveform mechanisms on vertebrates in the field of developmental biology
.
"We can see that bacterial communities are not as simple as a clump of bacteria," said Prof.
Süel.
"For problems that are difficult to test in vertebrate and plant systems, we can use simpler bacteria to design experiments that can be used for developmental Research offers new perspectives
.
"Reference: [1] Kwang-Tao Chou et al.
, A segmentation clock patterns cellular differentiation in a bacterial biofilm.
Cell (2022) DOI: https://doi.
org/10.
1016/j.
cell.
2021.
12.
001[ 2] 'Simple' bacteria found to organize in elaborate patterns.
Retrieved Jan.
6, 2022 from https:// Bacteria form complex structures like those seen in animals.
Retrieved Jan .
6, 2022 from https://
.
After all, not to mention higher animals and plants, even the fungal kingdom has intelligent life with collective consciousness like slime mold
.
In the bacterial community, some seem to have only tiny individuals with simple structures
.
However, a new study in the latest issue of the journal Cell may change the way you think about bacteria
.
A multinational research team led by Professor Gürol Süel at the University of California, San Diego has discovered that biofilms made of bacteria can be more advanced than we thought
.
These bacteria can aggregate to form very complex patterns of concentric circles, a phenomenon previously observed only in higher organisms such as plants and animals
.
▲When nutrients are deficient, the biofilm formed by Bacillus subtilis forms a pattern of concentric circles (Image source: Kwang-Tao Chou) The so-called biofilm is a community formed by the aggregation of microorganisms
.
From the corners of your kitchen, to the plaque on your teeth, biofilms are ubiquitous in the real world
.
Previous research has found that bacterial biofilms may be more complex and intelligent than you might think - they can communicate with each other through complex systems; they can also have a "memory" that can remember light stimuli from hours ago.
.
.
and The latest research focuses on how biofilms respond to nutrient deprivation
.
The research team collected Bacillus subtilis, which is commonly found in soil, and grown it in petri dishes to examine the biofilms it formed
.
As a result, the researchers observed interesting phenomena
.
Bacillus subtilis requires a nitrogen source to grow, and when there is a lack of available nitrogen in the petri dish, the biofilm grows in a pattern that resembles concentric circles, similar to the segmenting of animal embryonic development and the growth of tree rings, but Only it is not the familiar form of biofilm
.
▲The process of biofilm segmenting and forming concentric circles (Image source: Kwang-Tao Chou) How did this complex pattern, which was only observed in higher organisms in the past, appear in bacteria? The research team explained it with the help of mathematical models
.
As the biofilm expands outward and consumes nutrients, where nutrients are depleted, certain bacteria are "frozen" and dormant through spore formation in response to the stress of nutrient starvation
.
At this time, the nutrient deficiency is like a wave, transmitted between the cells of the biofilm
.
Because not all bacteria have genes that reduce stress and adapt through sporulation, the differences in how different bacteria behave will create the concentric patterns we see
.
▲ Stressed bacteria (green) and bacteria in a spore state (purple) (Image credit: Kwang-Tao Chou) It is worth noting that this process is consistent with the "clock and wavefront" model previously proposed by geneticists
.
The model was originally designed to explain the process of embryonic development in animals: the embryo's "clock" dictates the emergence of different stages
.
In this experiment, relatively inferior bacteria could also be explained by the same model: bacteria that were originally clustered also became segmented due to different states
.
"We saw that biofilms are more complex than we thought," says Prof.
Süel.
"From a biological point of view, our results show that cells develop specific patterns earlier than expected
.
Obviously, it is not only vertebrates and plants that can segment themselves in time and space, and such behavior may be traced back to 1 billion years ago
.
” ▲ Biofilms form concentric structures through the “clock and wavefront” model Schematic diagram (Image source: Reference [1]) This discovery not only shows for the first time the complex patterns formed by bacteria, but will also have implications for several fields of research
.
Since biofilms are so common in our lives, they have applications in medicine, the food industry and even the military
.
In addition, the ability of biofilm systems to verify how simple cellular systems can self-organize into complex patterns will also facilitate the study of the effects of clock and waveform mechanisms on vertebrates in the field of developmental biology
.
"We can see that bacterial communities are not as simple as a clump of bacteria," said Prof.
Süel.
"For problems that are difficult to test in vertebrate and plant systems, we can use simpler bacteria to design experiments that can be used for developmental Research offers new perspectives
.
"Reference: [1] Kwang-Tao Chou et al.
, A segmentation clock patterns cellular differentiation in a bacterial biofilm.
Cell (2022) DOI: https://doi.
org/10.
1016/j.
cell.
2021.
12.
001[ 2] 'Simple' bacteria found to organize in elaborate patterns.
Retrieved Jan.
6, 2022 from https:// Bacteria form complex structures like those seen in animals.
Retrieved Jan .
6, 2022 from https://
