Scientists teach bacteria to count
A colony of E. coli
Every so often there is a story in science so bizarre that it is difficult to believe. Many of these stories are coming out of a field known as synthetic biology, a place where scientists are hard at work creating some of the most wickedly cool devices that will be used to combat disease. The most recent design is a duel batch of counting bacteria created in a lab at Boston University.
Counting bacteria? It is exactly as it sounds. These bacteria, E. coli as it happens, have been given synthetic gene networks to recognize discrete events, count them, and respond accordingly. In the most basic form, these synthetic gene networks can tell a bacteria to divide three times and then manufacture a fluorescent protein so it can be observed by the researchers. But this is an almost sentient activity, as though the bacteria is playing a game, counting one-Mississippi, two-Mississippi, three-Mississippi before lighting up with a vivid fluorescent “peek-a-boo!”
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