A realization of information gate by using Enterococcus faecalis Pheromone system

Abstract

In this paper, we introduce a novel signal element by using bacterial pheromones. In multicellular organism, every cell can communicate and exchange information with other cells. Bacteria also have such mechanisms. Enterococcus faecalis, one of the gram-positive bacteria, has a unique pheromone system. Male cells are stimulated by pheromones from female cells, and they give their plasmid to female cells through conjugation phenomenon. The variety of pheromones and their inducible activities of plasmid transfer inspire us that Enterococcus faecalis can serve as a pheromone-dependant DNA transporter. We show a design to realize logically controllable Information Gates by using Enterococcus faecalis and show an experimental plan. It is still on going project, but we can show the feasibility that bacterial pheromone system would provide alternative methodologies in molecular computing research.