Molecular Circuits For Associative Learning In Single-celled Organisms

Main Category: Biology / Biochemistry
Also Included In: Infectious Diseases / Bacteria / Viruses
Article Date: 02 Oct 2008 - 6:00 PDT

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Can you teach old bacteria new tricks? We present a model of a gene circuit that could be made using synthetic biology to allow bacteria to learn.

Pavlov's dog learned to associate the sound of a bell with the smell of food. Our circuit allows a bacterium to learn when a chemical consistently precedes a harmful one, and thus to anticipate and predict the harmful chemical by synthesising a therapeutic gene product even before the harmful chemical appears.

The potential relevance for adaptive bacterial drug delivery is self-evident.

Journal of the Royal Society Interface

Journal of the Royal Society Interface is the Society's cross-disciplinary publication promoting research at the interface between the physical and life sciences. It offers rapidity, visibility and high-quality peer review and is ranked fifth in JCR's multidisciplinary category. The journal also incorporates Interface Focus, a peer-reviewed, themed supplement, each issue of which concentrates on a specific cross-disciplinary subject.

Journal of the Royal Society Interface