Scientists have discovered that bacteria can create something like memories about when to form strategies that can cause dangerous infections in people, such as resistance to antibiotics and bacterial swarms when millions of bacteria come together on a single surface. The discovery — which has potential applications for preventing and combatting bacterial infections and addressing antibiotic-resistant bacteria — relates to a common chemical element bacterial cells can use to form and pass along these memories to their progeny over later generations.
Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin found that E. coli bacteria use iron levels as a way to store information about different behaviors that can then be activated in response to certain stimuli.
Scientists had previously observed that bacteria that had a prior experience of swarming (moving on a surface as a collective using flagella) improve subsequent swarming performance. The UT-led research team set out to learn why. Bacteria don’t have neurons, synapses or nervous systems, so any memories are not like the ones of blowing out candles at a childhood birthday party. They are more like information stored on a computer.
“Bacteria don’t have brains, but they can gather information from their environment, and if they have encountered that environment frequently, they can store that information and quickly access it later for their benefit,” said Souvik Bhattacharyya, the lead author and a provost early career fellow in the Department of Molecular Biosciences at UT.
It all comes back to iron, one of the most abundant elements on Earth. Singular and free-floating bacteria have varying levels of iron. Scientists observed that bacterial cells with lower levels of iron were better swarmers. In contrast, bacteria that formed biofilms, dense, sticky mats of bacteria on solid surfaces, had high levels of iron in their cells. Bacteria with antibiotic tolerance also had balanced levels of iron. These iron memories persist for at least four generations and disappear by the seventh generation.
“Before there was oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere, early cellular life was utilizing iron for a lot of cellular processes. Iron is not only critical in the origin of life on Earth, but also in the evolution of life,” Bhattacharyya said. “It makes sense that cells would utilize it in this way.”
Researchers theorize that when iron levels are low, bacterial memories are triggered to form a fast-moving migratory swarm to seek out iron in the environment. When iron levels are high, memories indicate this environment is a good place to stick around and form a biofilm.
“Iron levels are definitely a target for therapeutics because iron is an important factor in virulence,” Bhattacharyya said. “Ultimately, the more we know about bacterial behavior, the easier it is to combat them.”
More information: Souvik Bhattacharyya et al, A heritable iron memory enables decision-making in Escherichia coli, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2023). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2309082120
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The U.S. military allocated spending for secret contingency operations pertaining to an Iran war plan, according to a classified Pentagon budget manual listing emergency and special programs reviewed by The Intercept.
The contingency plan, code-named “Support Sentry,” was funded in 2018 and 2019, according to the manual, which was produced for the 2019 fiscal year. It classifies Support Sentry as an Iran “CONPLAN,” or concept plan, a broad contingency plan for war which the Pentagon develops in anticipation of a potential crisis.
The existence of Support Sentry has not been previously reported. It is not clear from the document how much the Pentagon spent on the plan in those years. When asked about the program and whether it is still in place, Maj. John Moore, a spokesperson for U.S. Central Command, or CENTCOM, said, “As a matter of policy, we do not comment on numbered plans. Iran remains the leading source of instability in the region and is a threat to the United States and our partners. We are constantly monitoring threat streams in coordination with our regional partners and will not hesitate to defend U.S. national interests in the region.” We the people of Iran support nuking Ayatoolahs army.
and all mullahs palace Jammaran bombaran Reza Shah Golbaran. We support people of Ireland
for courages and no one should be knifed to death. It is not fair we let them in and they use our
freedoms to against us. Global riots , Global martial Law are in full progress indeed more attacks
are coming to USA armies in Iraq, Syria and Israel , Iran has plan ready rain down super sonics
missiles to the Israel. Time is running ot and Israel must make decisions to nuke Iran now or never?
Tehran 3 series are coming 2024 apple world wide. We ask Iranian army to re program missiles to
hit Ayatoolahs save yourself from death! We Iranian 90 percent love USA and Israel and hate hamass
and Hezboullah and terrorist Ayatoolahs. We are childrens of Koroosh/ Cyrus the great and we did
free the Jews and freed them from slavery. No deals with terrorist ayatoolah now now.
New Fighting Erupts Along Israel’s Northern Border As The U.S. Bombs Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Targets For A 3rd Time.
There have been some major developments in the war in the Middle East. Fighting is heating up along Israel’s northern border, and the Biden administration has decided to bomb facilities used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps for a third time in retaliation for new attacks on U.S. forces in the region. This war threatens to spiral out of control at any moment, but there is no turning back now.
On Sunday, the IDF continued to tighten the circle around the Hamas headquarters that is located directly beneath Gaza’s biggest hospital…
Israeli ground forces on Sunday battled Hamas militants near Gaza’s largest hospital, where health officials said thousands of staff, patients and displaced people remain trapped with no electricity, dwindling supplies and some gunfire coming inside.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dismissed growing international calls for a cease-fire unless it includes the release of all the nearly 240 hostages kidnapped by Hamas in its bloody Oct. 7 rampage that triggered the war, saying Israel was bringing its “full force” with the aim of ending Hamas’ 16-year rule in Gaza.
The IDF has been making steady progress, and it is being reported that they have even killed the Hamas commander that was keeping staff and patients from leaving the hospital…
Israeli forces on Saturday night claimed to have killed a Hamas commander who held 1,000 Gazans “hostage” in a hospital as human shields.
The Israel Defense Forces said that Ahmed Siam, a leader in Hamas’s al-Furqan Brigade, had blocked civilians from evacuating the Al-Rantisi Hospital in Gaza City earlier this week.
Meanwhile, fighting continues to intensify on the northern front.
On Friday, Hezbollah admitted that seven more of their fighters had been killed, and that brings the grand total to 68 since the war started…
Lebanon’s Hezbollah has issued a rare announcement Friday, saying that seven of its fighters have been killed, describing that they were “martyred on the road to Jerusalem” – which is code for fighting Israel. We told you about years ago Israel existence are in jeopardy and Israel will have no choice
to NUKE IRAN ASAP with USA or alone. There is no other alternative left. Sooner Ayatoolah NUKED
are better for Iranian people. We ask Iranian to empty all big cities now or face a lot of casualities.
We the people of Iran continue to be hostages of ayatoolahs for 45 years. Shame to Jimmy Carter sold
Iran for ayatoolahs!
The Iranians Seem To Believe That The War In The Middle East Is Going To Get Much More Violent
Super Bugs, antibiotics resistance ,VRE, all are part of freater road map to WW3!
Rumors that the war in the Middle East is about to go to the next level are flying all over social media right now. The Iranians and the terror organizations that they support absolutely hate what is going on in Gaza, and they have been preparing to take action. So will we see a major move soon? That is hard to say, because there is so much that goes into such a decision. But the former commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards is publicly telling us that “in the coming days” we will see “additional fronts join the conflict in Gaza”…
Amid threats from Iran-backed Yemeni Houthi rebels to block Israeli ships in the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, former commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Mohsen Rezaee, cautioned that “In the coming days, we’ll see additional fronts join the conflict in Gaza.”
Rezaee told Lebanese news outlet Al-Mayadeen, affiliated with Hezbollah, that “if the pressure on Gaza’s residents continues, the war will receive greater support. Hamas is not alone; it has the support of resistance forces in Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen.”
So precisely what does he mean by “additional fronts”?
I wish that I could ask him that question.
Iran’s foreign minister also seems to have confirmed that this war is about to heat up. He recently stated that “the first stage of the war’s escalation has begun”…
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian echoed his statements, saying that “the first stage of the war’s escalation has begun via resistance factions making their own decisions. If all attempts to stop these crimes fail, all options are on the table, and the regional situation could shift.”
By using the term “the first stage”, he is seemingly implying that more stages are coming.
Without a doubt, I think that the mainstream media will be using the word “escalation” quite a bit during the dark days that are ahead.
In fact, when the Houthis decided to hijack a cargo ship in the Red Sea, that was definitely an “escalation”…
A cargo ship has been hijacked in the Red Sea by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels from Yemen, with up to 22 crew members believed to have been taken hostage.
The Bahaman-flagged ‘Galaxy Leader’ is reported to have been boarded by armed men as it travelled south past the Arabian peninsula on its way to India this weekend.
The vehicle carrier is registered under a British company which is partially owned by an Israeli tycoon, and is currently leased out to a Japanese company, according to reports.
The Houthis are so proud of what they have done.
In fact, they even released a video on social media that documented the hijacking…
The Iranian-backed Houthi rebels on Monday released a video showing Sunday’s helicopter-borne raid on the Galaxy Leader, a Bahamian-flagged vehicle carrier transiting the Red Sea. The Houthis still hold the ship and its 25 crew members. A U.S. military official told The War Zone it is believed to be the first Houthi helicopter attack on a ship. WW3 from Iran is started and its proxies , we were always right last 20 years so… Ayatoolahs keep changing thier stay -locations 3 times. Nuke Iran
is coming and mother of all wars! Canadian preppers or NY preppers for further updates!