|
|
Research Articles
Submitted on December 20, 2007 Predictive Behavior Within Microbial Genetic Networks ,,
1 Department of Electrical Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA.; Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA. * To whom correspondence should be addressed.
We question whether homeostasis alone adequately explains microbial responses to environmental stimuli, and explore the capacity of intra-cellular networks for predictive behavior in a fashion similar to metazoan nervous systems. We show that in silico biochemical networks, evolving randomly under precisely defined complex habitats, capture the dynamical, multi-dimensional structure of diverse environments by forming internal models that allow prediction of environmental change. We provide evidence for such anticipatory behavior by revealing striking correlations of Escherichia coli transcriptional responses to temperature and oxygen perturbations—precisely mirroring the co-variation of these parameters upon transitions between the outside world and the mammalian gastrointestinal-tract. We further show that these internal correlations reflect a true associative learning paradigm, since they show rapid de-coupling upon exposure to novel environments.
The editors suggest the following Related Resources on Science sites:In Science Magazine
In Science Signaling
|
Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)
Magazine | News | Signaling | Careers | Multimedia | Collections | Help | Site Map | RSS
Subscribe | Feedback | Privacy / Legal | About Us | Advertise With Us | Contact Us
© 2008 American Association for the Advancement of Science. All Rights Reserved.
AAAS is a partner of HINARI, AGORA, PatientInform, CrossRef, and COUNTER.
You have reached the bottom of the page. Back to top