Bacterial computing: a form of natural computing and its applications

Abstract

The capability to establish adaptive relationships with the environment is an essential characteristic of living cells. Both bacterial computing and bacterial intelligence are two general traits manifested along adaptive behaviors that respond to surrounding environmental conditions. These two traits have generated a variety of theoretical and applied approaches. Since the different systems of bacterial signaling and the different ways of genetic change are better known and more carefully explored, the whole adaptive possibilities of bacteria may be studied under new angles. For instance, there appear instances of molecular “learning” along the mechanisms of evolution. More in concrete, and looking specifically at the time dimension, the bacterial mechanisms of learning and evolution appear as two different and related mechanisms for adaptation to the environment; in somatic time the former and in evolutionary time the latter. In the present chapter it will be reviewed the possible application of both kinds of mechanisms to prokaryotic molecular computing schemes as well as to the solution of real world problems.

Characterization ofPseudomonas aeruginosaFilms on Different Inorganic Surfaces before and after UV Light Exposure

“…A critical component of a functional biointerface is its ability to trigger a response due to some type stimuli that is mediated by its chemical and/or electronic properties. ,, Rather than utilizing solution-based treatments, UV illumination of the samples was chosen as an environmental factor that can change surface properties and subsequently trigger an interfacial-mediated response associated with film formation. Sterilized wafer samples prepared accordingly were exposed to UV light prior to bacterial film formation.…”

“…1,2,8 In addition, certain bacteria have been utilized as biosensors, represented as interfaces responding to certain types of input signals or conditions. 5,9 All the abovementioned factors and approaches make bacteria a perfect candidate for use in nonconventional biological computing systems or, to be more particular, create a separate direction of researchbacterial computing. Furthermore, the search for concepts of bacterial computing systems that can be used in certain areas with specific or extreme conditions requires studying the surface interactions of bacteria with technologically relevant inorganic materials in response to specific stimuli.…”

“…Across many available biological organisms and systems (ant colony algorithms, neural cell networks, immune systems, genes, viruses), bacteria show great promise in biocomputing because of their unique combination of being a relatively simple organism with a complex genome that responds to and survives in a broad range of environmental conditions. ,, Recent studies have shown that bacteria are capable of sensing a wide range of stimuli and provide chemical and physical responses. − These properties open paths for bacteria to be employed in information storage platforms. For example, there are reports on the potential use of certain strains of bacteria as memory devices, logic networks and gates, genetic transistors (biological analog of semiconductor transistors), genetic circuits, as well as programmable biocomputational devices. ,, In addition, certain bacteria have been utilized as biosensors, represented as interfaces responding to certain types of input signals or conditions. , All the abovementioned factors and approaches make bacteria a perfect candidate for use in nonconventional biological computing systems or, to be more particular, create a separate direction of researchbacterial computing. Furthermore, the search for concepts of bacterial computing systems that can be used in certain areas with specific or extreme conditions requires studying the surface interactions of bacteria with technologically relevant inorganic materials in response to specific stimuli.…”

Revealing gene regulation-based neural network computing in bacteria

“…Despite the absence of neural structures for computing, the GRN allows the bacteria to strategize and adapt through varying conditions, and this results in molecular production to influence other cells, which leads to complex social interactions, motility to favorable environmental conditions, or physiological state changes. Exploring the natural computing properties of bacteria can lead to a better understanding of their behavior and open new opportunities for programming sensing and actuation functionalities into the cells for novel treatments ( 9 ), as well as creating new opportunities for future bio-computing systems ( 10 ).…”