Thinking ahead: Bacteria anticipate coming changes in their environment A new study by Princeton University researchers shows for the first time that bacteria don’t just react to changes in their surroundings — they anticipate and prepare for them. The findings, reported in the June 6 issue of Science, challenge the prevailing notion that only organisms with complex nervous systems have this ability. ‘What we have found is the first evidence that bacteria can use sensed cues from their environment to infer future events,’ said Saeed Tavazoie, an associate professor of molecular biology, who conducted the study along with graduate student Ilias Tagkopoulos and postdoctoral researcher Yir-Chung Liu. The research team, which included biologists and engineers, used lab experiments to demonstrate this phenomenon in common bacteria. They also turned to computer simulations to explain how a microbe species’ internal network of genes and proteins could evolve over time to produce such complex behavior. ‘The two lines of investigation came together nicely to show how simple biochemical networks can perform sophisticated computational tasks,’ said Tavazoie. In addition to shedding light on deep questions in biology, the findings could have many practical implications. They could help scientists understand […]