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Rice University scientists have made a living circuit from multiple types of bacteria that prompts the bacteria to cooperate to change protein expression.
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"The main push in synthetic biology has been to engineer single cells," Bennett said. "But now we're moving toward multicellular systems. We want cells to coordinate their behaviors in order to elicit a populational response, just the way our bodies do."Bennett and his colleagues achieved their goal by engineering common Escherichia coli bacteria. By creating and mixing two genetically distinct populations, they prompted the bacteria to form a consortium.
The bacteria worked together by doing opposite tasks: One was an activator that up-regulated the expression of targeted genes, and the other was a repressor that down-regulated genes. Together, they created oscillations -- rhythmic peaks and valleys -- of gene transcription in the bacterial population.
The idea is to create "consortia" of engineered bacteria whose products can be switched on and off using chemical signals. Patients would ingest the consortia to treat conditions, and physicians would control the activity of the consortia by feeding the patients yogurt carrying control chemicals.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 29 2015, @11:19PM
Someone read "Prey" and ignored the cautionary parts of the cautionary tale and decided to use E-coli to make grey goo a reality for real? What could possibly go horribly wrong?!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Farkus888 on Sunday August 30 2015, @12:07AM
I've been referencing that book for a decade. Don't bother, Spielberg didn't make it into a movie so no one knows about it. You would be better served by finding a way to show how the latest season of American Idol teaches the same moral.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 30 2015, @12:16AM
If it were made into a movie today, the main character would be a South Asian lesbian coder whose wife was being replaced by nanobots.