Such_Saturation
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The new study builds on previous work by the same team that found that bacteria can communicate via electrical signals, just like neurons. Small pores called ion channels allow electrically charged molecules to travel in and out of the cells.
In this way potassium ions can ripple through the whole biofilm – like a message on a companywide email list. Cells at the centre of the community send these charged pulses when they’re low on nutrients, prompting bacteria towards the edge to slow their growth and quit gobbling up so much food.
The latest UC San Diego research suggests these channels also let bacteria talk to each other at a distance and between species, even beyond the reach of their biofilm community, because once the potassium ions reach the biofilm border, they continue to spread outwards.
That in turn causes other bacteria cells to pick up these ions and swim towards the source, as noticed by the researchers using fluorescent dye to track the cells. It's like calling in new friends from out of town to strengthen the biofilm community.
"The amazing thing is that potassium ions are an essential currency for all cells," another of the team, Jacqueline Humphries, told Ed Yong at The Atlantic. "It allows species to communicate across evolutionary divides and create mixed communities."
“What’s interesting is that both migraines and the electrical signaling in bacteria we discovered are triggered by metabolic stress,” he said. “This suggests that many drugs originally developed for epilepsy and migraines may also be effective in attacking bacterial biofilms, which have become a growing health problem around the world because of their resistance to antibiotics.”
Ion channels enable electrical communication within bacterial communities