They Can Smell You......

Funky feet, festering garbage, blue Cheese: Bacteria is responsible for the many of the world's most notorious odors. Recent discoveries show that these single-celled organisms have their own "noses"! Using their sense of smell they detect the scent of airborne ammonia. Bacteria needs Ammonia to grow. If they can find ammonia and migrate toward the source, they will be able to flourish. Once a colony of bacteria gathers to the ammonia area, they join together to form a slimy "biofilm." This is perhaps a reaction in the attempt to claim the ammonia as their territory, thereby winning the turf war with other bacterial colonies. Now with the addition of smell to their senses, they can now feel four out of five senses; reaction to light (sight), contact with others of their species (touch), and contact with chemicals (taste). Even though scientists have not located the nose of the bacteria yet, they believe it is a protein sensor in the cell wall that somehow binds with airborne chemicals; like ammonia gas. Nevertheless, the biofilms created by the bacteria are detrimental to our healths.

This is related to biology because this finding may suggest that bacteria may have developed the sense of smell before any other complex organism. It was often believed that only complex organisms could smell, but now we see that yeast and bacteria as well can smell. This discovery will help scientists to better understand these single-celled organisms better. The discovery of the sense of smell prompted more research to find where exactly the nose was. Perhaps, it may be a protein sensor in the cell wall.

With this discovery, scientists now can treat biofilms. Biofilms are dangerous infections that prolong the infection. Sometimes it might end up in artificial implants, like heart valves, and that could kill the host. So with the discovery that bacteria can smell, this finding will help scientists prevent and even deal with those bothersome biofilms created by colonies of bacteria. This is a very important discovery, as it will now lead to more lives saved.