Project description

BACILLUS BOOLEANUS

A logic gate is an idealized or physical device implementing a Boolean function, that performs a logical operation on one or more logic inputs and produces a single logic output. To build a functionally complete logic system, transistors can be used. A single transistor is not a computer, many of them are necessary and they need to communicate with each other, in this way a complex logic system can be created. The architecture of gene regulatory networks is reminiscent of electronic circuits. Modular building blocks that respond in a logical way to one or several inputs are connected to perform a variety of complex tasks. Taking these two main ideas, it could be possible to create a “molecular computer”. Bacillus Booleanus is a project that wants to create a “molecular computer”. How does it work? We are working on the creation of different strains of Bacillus subtilis. Each one of them will be able to perform a single Boolean operation just like a transistor. As we mentioned, our transistors need to communicate, but how could this be possible? In 2011 Ben-Yehuda et. al. identified a type of bacterial communication mediated by nanotubes that bridge neighboring cells, providing a network for exchange of cellular molecules within and between species. By using these nanotubes our bacterium will be capable to communicate with others, creating complex networks of logic gates. Using this, it could be possible to develop a complex network of "transistors" to create, for example, a synthetic metabolic pathway.