Rapid Fire
Bacteria to Solve Math Problems
- 25 Nov 2024
- 2 min read
The recent advancements in synthetic biology, particularly the engineering of bacteria to perform mathematical computations at the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics in Kolkata, represent a significant breakthrough in the field.
- Researchers have engineered Escherichia coli bacteria to act as biological computers capable of solving mathematical problems, such as determining whether a number is prime or whether a letter is a vowel.
- This was achieved by introducing genetic circuits that can be activated by chemical inducers, allowing these bacteria to behave like artificial neural networks (ANNs).
- The team developed bactoneurons, engineered bacteria that function like neurons in a neural network.
- These bactoneurons process chemical inputs and produce fluorescent proteins based on specific computations.
- By converting mathematical problems into binary code represented by the presence or absence of chemical compounds, the bacteria could respond to queries with fluorescent signals indicating "yes" or "no."
- The engineered bacteria were capable of more than just simple tasks; they could also solve optimization problems, like calculating the number of pieces a pie could be divided into with a given number of straight cuts.
- This capability suggests that bacterial computers can handle progressively more complex computational tasks, potentially leading to applications in various fields.
Read more: Artificial Neural Network
