Are you smarter than a microbe?

You may think that microbes are just tiny microorganisms that is within you and everywhere else but there are more than you think. Some of these microbes are strong; others can hibernate for a long time even thousands of years or live within environments that most of the other life forms would be gone in a blink of an eye. It is quite compelling that many of these bacteria and protists do hold a remarkable intelligence. These microbes don't even have nervous system! They only have a brain. There are ground breaking evidences of this intelligent markings for these microbes.

By communication, bacteria releases chemicals in order to communicate to others. Although, we haven't fully understand the course of this action but one of the most straightforwards was done by a Bacillus subtilis. Bacillus subtilis is a rod-shaped, gram-positive, catalase-positive bacterium. They have been known to survive extreme environmental conditions by having the ability to form tough and hard endospore. If a Bacillus subtilis individuals are striving in a low-food area, they release those chemicals around them. It's a signal to their neighbors that there is small amount food or get out or we'll both die together. In response to these, other bacterias push themselves away from the area and also changing the course of the colony.

The chemical that is being released by a bacterium is called an autoinducer. Autoinducers are chemical signaling molecules that are produced and used by same type of bacteria participating in quorum sensing. Quorum sensing is the ability to coordinate gene expression according to the density of their local population or community. These microbes also have the ability to make decisions with the help of quorum sensing. Each bacterium releases chemical(autoinducers) into the surrounding area-a chemical which each bacterium will be able to detect through their receptors on the outer wall. And if there's a community of bacteria around, all of them will also release the same chemical and if reaches a certain level, it will trigger a change in their behavior. As for the bad guys, pathogenic and disease-causing bacteria sometimes use quorum sensing to decide when to attack on their host. When they gather enough numbers, they will overwhelmed and attack the immune system or other systems and your body. Their actions or ways also might give us clues on how to fight back against them. This is also how we treat people better and more efficient by understanding their ways of living, weaknesses and many more.

As we have known as well, microbes do tend to form communities or colonies. When they do, they form biofilm which most likely to be found in the water pipes, kitchen surfaces, teeth, and etc. They also been found on the human digestive system- anywhere where there is a large amount of water. Many different species live with or within these colonies, make themselves useful by taking down waste, co-operating to look for food sources and defending each other from external threats such as antibiotics. Microbes can be also unpredictable and yet fascinating. They kind of the same like us. They organize or think just like a human in a group. We, as humans in a country or communities, we tend to help each other to make a better place for everyone, adapt and so on just like what these microbes are doing. They are more becoming smarter and more intelligent as time passes through. But as a question comes into my mind, what if these microbes become smarter beyond the unimaginable that they would pose as a threat to us humans when that time would happen? Could they evolve into something more than a microbes? No one knows for sure but when that time comes, I hope we are ready for it. Cited: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17390-why-microbes-are-smarter-than-you-thought.html