Summary Bonnie Bassler

Bonnie Bassler, a molecular biologist talks about her discoveries about the possibilities of communication between bacteria, and demonstrates the depths of bacterial quorum sensing, the method in which bacteria “talk” to each other. Bassler states “you think of yourselves as human beings, but I think of you as 99 percent bacterial” (Bassler, 2009). She then talks about how human bodies are made up of cells but in reality, the body is made up of fewer cells and mostly bacteria. Bassler thinks of humans at 90-99% bacteria for two reasons. First, humans have about 1 trillion human cells in them at all time, while at the same time we have 10 trillion bacterial cells in us as well, meaning we are 10 times more bacterial than human relative to the cells we exhibit. Secondly, humans have thirty thousand genes in their DNA, but there is hundred times more bacterial genes playing a role on humans’ lives as well. These two criteria allow Bassler to categorize humans as 90-99% bacteria, and 1-10% human. There are the three important functions of bacteria on humans that help keep up alive. Very importantly, they cover us in an invisible body armor

However, when these bacteria are grouped together to have high cell density, the molecules they secrete amount to a certain number, and once that number is reached, the behavior of that bacteria is switched on and in this case, bioluminescence is created. Similarly, in my project, I am screening the anti bacterial activity using oils. Before I use the oil, I have to culture the bacteria overnight so that I could use them in the plates after 16-18 hours of incubation. Based on the talk, I believe that I have an idea on how bacteria grow. This Ted Talk has inspired me about science in numerous aspects. One way it inspires me about science is that is reveals an aspect to biology, which I was completely unaware