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The baffling intelligence of a single cell: The story of E. coli chemotaxis

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Re: The baffling intelligence of a single cell: The story of E. coli chemotaxis

#11

Post by beders »

nyc111 wrote: post #5

There is a section at the end "How did we figure all this stuff out?". Really amazing. And the scale invariance of nature is clearly visible here. The cell is "small" compared to human scale but it is as complicated as any machine existing in human scale. There is no absolute small or big in nature.

It is a highly evolved bacterium for sure. It still hasn't figured out how to form multi-cell clusters. And let's hope it stays that way ;)

Also scale is subject to physical limitations. Bones can only carry that much weight - chemical processes are limited by - for example - maximum energy dissipation rate.

Re: The baffling intelligence of a single cell: The story of E. coli chemotaxis

#12

Post by roenxi »

nyc111 wrote: post #5

There is a section at the end "How did we figure all this stuff out?". Really amazing. And the scale invariance of nature is clearly visible here. The cell is "small" compared to human scale but it is as complicated as any machine existing in human scale. There is no absolute small or big in nature.

I was about to post a very similar comment. That last section elevates the article from "interesting" to "wow, that was great". It isn't just revealed wisdom; the gentleman want to show the limits of the knowledge.

And the "in silico" experiments are probably a bit of a sleeper for people outside the field. It is really obvious how improvements in computing power will have/had a transformative impact on this field. To go from poking out random molecules and growing dangerous things in a pitri dish to fast computer simulations from DNA seems like quite a big jump in how quickly the field can learn.

Re: The baffling intelligence of a single cell: The story of E. coli chemotaxis

#13

Post by seatac76 »

Fantastic read! If y’all are into this kind of stuff I highly recommend reading “The Song of the cell” by Siddhartha Mukherjee[1], it is one of the best books I’ve read that made the topic of biology approachable.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Song-Cell-Exploration-Medicine-Human/...

Re: The baffling intelligence of a single cell: The story of E. coli chemotaxis

#14

Post by verisimi »

> How did we figure all this stuff out?

> We don’t yet have the technology to just observe all of the activity inside a living cell. That Goodsell painting above that shows the crowded cytoplasm packed with proteins is an artistic composite—backed by rigorous research to be sure—because there’s no way to capture all the different players in situ at once.

> A group at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne uses atomic-scale molecular dynamics simulations, in software, to understand structural details

> It’s a world that’s hard to see; sometimes you just have to imagine what’s going on down there, and back up those imaginings with the right experiments.

> One reason I’m particularly attracted to studies of E. coli chemotaxis is that it’s an early star of what’s been called “in silico” biology. It’s been the subject of many computer models.

Honest, at least.

Re: The baffling intelligence of a single cell: The story of E. coli chemotaxis

#18

Post by janpmz »

dustingetz wrote: post #9
janpmz wrote: post #6

I would love to understand how individual cells come together to form functioning organs with clear boundaries.

elemental cells also have clear boundaries ie the cell membrane, which evolved as a way to catalyze a chemical reaction by containing all the ingredients in one place. imagine a fatty globule that randomly happens to enclose a set of chemical ingredients that react; that reaction is now far more likely to occur

Thats a nice view. Packages of chemical ingredients that react. And they are in an environment together with gradients of molecules that start reactions at specific concentrations.

Re: The baffling intelligence of a single cell: The story of E. coli chemotaxis

#19

Post by agumonkey »

stephc_int13 wrote: post #17

Imagine a microscopic, fully autonomous and self-replicating Roomba that is also able to adapts at the individual and population levels. We're still quite far from replicating this kind of tech.

yes evolution/nature .. life .. did a lot with very few long ago, any insect is a technological marvel if you look at it right

Re: The baffling intelligence of a single cell: The story of E. coli chemotaxis

#20

Post by singularity2001 »

beders wrote: post #8
swader999 wrote: post #4

Incredible to think how something this intricate with so many interdependent parts and integrated systems could have evolved.

I know. But this is very well understood and researched. All it requires is mutations, time and selection pressure. The Blind Watchmaker is still a good read.

First you need the incredible machinery to enable mutations in the first place
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