Bacterian Language

They are microscopic and are every where around and in your body. The Bacteria is a single celled organism that, depending on the specie, needs a host to survive. They are on your skin and in your mouth waiting to go to your stomach, these small organism make up for there size with number. At times you may have a trillion cells where as they would have ten trillion. Although some are not always out to harm, they pose a serious threat. Using communication they can organize attacks on human cells. That’s right they do communicate, maybe not with words but by releasing small molecules that are detected by the receptors on bacteria and when these messages reach a certain level the bacteria knows that its friends are ready for an attack. This communication was discovered by scientist Bonnie Bassler while she was trying to discover how our own cells communicate. Bonnie gives this type of communication the name “Quorum sensing”. She uses this to develop antibiotics for virulent cells like Vibrio Cholereae Bacterium. She hopes that she can find a way to block these communications so that there wouldn’t be any organized attacks on the human body. She also hopes to use this communication to help bacteria cells that help us. Although it is work in progress this can be a cure to sicknesses we once thought were incurable.
To better understand how these bacteria communicate between each other, a scientist must have knowledge of biology because to understand what bacteria do, you must know how it functions and why it does certain actions. For example you must know that bacteria is a prokaryote and does not function completely the same as a eukaryotic cell. This relates directly with biology because it has to do with the study of live in particular, the study of bacteria. Also a background in biology can help scientists understand the reason why communication between bacteria can be extremely vital to there survival.
If Bassler finds a way to disrupt the communication between harmful bacteria then the millions suffering from the sickness can have somewhere to turn. This can maybe lead to other finds that can better keep us healthy. For example if there is a way to block the communication, then there should be a way to use there communication to attack one another or other harmful bacteria. The discoveries of how to prevent there communication can lead to many other important finds. The reason why this showed be published is because everybody should have a basic knowledge of what scientist are doing to extend our potential to live, and what to expect in the future.



Link:
http://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=117183&org=NSF