title: Bacterial observations: a rudimentary form of intelligence?
abstract: Genome sequencing has revealed that signal transduction in bacteria makes use of a limited number of different devices, such as two-component systems, LuxI-LuxR quorum-sensing systems, phosphodiesterases, Ser-Thr (serine-threonine) kinases, OmpR-type regulators, and sigma factor-anti-sigma factor pathways. These systems use modular proteins with a large variety of input and output domains, yet strikingly conserved transmission domains. This conservation might lead to redundancy of output function, for example, via crosstalk (i.e. phosphoryl transfer from a non-cognate sensory kinase). The number of similar devices in a single cell, particularly of the two-component type, might amount to several dozen, and most of these operate in parallel. This could bestow bacteria with cellular intelligence if the network of two-component systems in a single cell fulfils the requirements of a neural network. Testing these ideas poses a great challenge for prokaryotic systems biology.
authors.affiliation: Nieuwe Achtergracht 166, NL-1018 WV Amsterdam, The Netherlands. khelling@science.uva.nl
authors.forename: Klaas J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Hellingwerf
mesh_terms: D018407:Bacterial Physiological Phenomena; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics; D049490:Systems Biology
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins