Microbes that cause cavities can form superorganisms able to ‘crawl’
penntoday.upenn.edu
Microbes that cause cavities can form superorganisms able to ‘crawl’
1–10 of 157 posts
Re: Microbes that cause cavities can form superorganisms able to ‘crawl’
#2My childhood explained.
Trying to do exactly this for my kids:
"Because these assemblages are found in saliva, targeting them early on could be a therapeutic strategy to prevent childhood tooth decay, says Koo. “If you block this binding or disrupt the assemblage before it arrives on the tooth and causes damage, that could be a preventive strategy.”"
Re: Microbes that cause cavities can form superorganisms able to ‘crawl’
#3Sounds like advanced symbiosis. I wonder if the movement is across a gradient or whether the super organism has a control unit that makes decisions. Are we a result of similar microorganisms?
Re: Microbes that cause cavities can form superorganisms able to ‘crawl’
#4Literally the Cavity Creeps from the old Crest commercials: https://theretronetwork.com/retro-commercials-crest-team-vs-...
Re: Microbes that cause cavities can form superorganisms able to ‘crawl’
#5Sounds like advanced symbiosis. I wonder if the movement is across a gradient or whether the super organism has a control unit that makes decisions. Are we a result of similar microorganisms?
Funghi can assemble themselves into a super-organism.
Also, for fun: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-20080-3
Get "The computational beauty of nature", too. And its repo.
Re: Microbes that cause cavities can form superorganisms able to ‘crawl’
#6Sounds like advanced symbiosis. I wonder if the movement is across a gradient or whether the super organism has a control unit that makes decisions. Are we a result of similar microorganisms?
> Are we a result of similar microorganisms?
I think the answer to your question is probably "yes." I listened to an interesting show on PBS radio 30 Oct. about what happened 2Byo that jump-started evolution. I can't find the show online, which explained in depth, but this short and patronizing video[1] covers the gist of it.
Re: Microbes that cause cavities can form superorganisms able to ‘crawl’
#7Sounds like advanced symbiosis. I wonder if the movement is across a gradient or whether the super organism has a control unit that makes decisions. Are we a result of similar microorganisms?
> Are we a result of similar microorganisms?
I'm no biologist, but from what I've read: Probably not. A really important fact about multicellular life is that each cell is genetically identical to any other cell in the organism. Otherwise, different cells will start competing with one another, until the relationship falls apart. In nature, symbiosis only works because each cell has an independent means of reproduction, and that always puts a limit to how close the cooperation can be (nothing close to forming multicellular life).
Re: Microbes that cause cavities can form superorganisms able to ‘crawl’
#8My childhood explained. Trying to do exactly this for my kids: "Because these assemblages are found in saliva, targeting them early on could be a therapeutic strategy to prevent childhood tooth decay, says Koo. “If you block this binding or disrupt the assemblage before it arrives on the tooth and causes damage, that could be a preventive strategy.”"
How? Do you just mean by good oral care practices from an early age? Or something more off the beaten path?
Re: Microbes that cause cavities can form superorganisms able to ‘crawl’
#9Biofilms has been a noted phenomenon with microbiologists for at least a couple of decades, though I have to admit I haven't seen motility discussed as one of the functions before...
Re: Microbes that cause cavities can form superorganisms able to ‘crawl’
#10I for one welcome our new multicellular, cross-kingdom assemblages overlords.