Macroscopic control of synchronous electrical signaling with chemically-excited gene expression

Abstract

Excitable nerve cells convert electrical signals into chemical outputs to facilitate the active transport of information across the nervous system. We engineered unicellular microbe S. cerevisiae to directly read and convert local chemical concentrations into a dynamic electrical field that is uniformly distributed across fungi populations. The chemically-excitable dual-feedback gene circuit precisely tunes the expression of active potassium channels, coordinating cyclic firing of the plasma membrane potential (PMP). Our findings provide mechanistic insights into how cells transform local chemical environments into electrical signals to guide coordinated behavior at the macroscopic scale.