Realizing Social Intelligence of Bacteria

http://tamar.tau.ac.il/~eshel/realizing_bacteria.html

Bacteria, long perceived as simple creatures, are now recognised to be smart beasts that can conduct intricate social life while using sophisticated chemical language, one we have only recently begun to decode. The bacterial power of cooperation is manifested by their ability to develop large colonies of astonishing complexity, as seen in the picture below. [see link above for photo]

While the number of bacteria in a colony can be more than 100 times the number of people on Earth, bacteria are twittering (“ bacterial twittering” or “chemical tweeting”) to make sure they all know what they all doing (by exchanging “chemical tweets”); each cell is both an actor and a spectator in the bacterial Game of Life. Acting jointly, these tiny organisms can sense the environment, process information, solve problems and make decisions so as to thrive in harsh environments. In better times, when exposed to an environment containing abundant nutrients, instead of rushing to exhaust the available resources, as human communities often do, bacteria save for the future and make sure to be prepared for hard times that might befall them in the future. But how smart bacteria really are, and what makes them that way?

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While studying the genome, the team developed Social-IQ score for bacteria and performed comparative analysis of 500 bacteria whose genome was sequenced. The score is based on the number of genes which afford bacteria abilities to communicate and process environmental information (two-component and transcription-factor genes), to make decisions and to synthesize offensive (toxic) and defensive (neutralizing) agents as needed during chemical warfare with other microorganisms. Notably, they found that the Paenibacillus vortex (with two other Paenibacillus bacteria strains) has the highest Social-IQ score among all 500 sequenced bacteria, over 3 standard deviations higher than average, indicating a capacity for exceptionally brilliant social skills. Humans with IQ of three standard deviations above average include scientists like Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking and Richard Dawkins.

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Bacteria are the most prolific organisms on Earth. Many of them are fierce killers, but many more are indispensible to our survival. In our rush to free the human race from deadly bacterial diseases, we created a major health problem worldwide: bacteria are becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics. Even in the West, bacteria are one of the top 3 killers in hospitals today. Unaware of bacteria's social intelligence, which allows them to learn from experience to solve new problems and then share their newly acquired skills, we use antibiotics indiscriminately. As a result, bacteria developed multiple drug resistance, and we can't invent new drugs fast enough to beat them.

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Our study shows that the pathogenic bacteria are not so smart; their Social-IQ score is just at the average level.

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