Rice University scientists have made a living circuit from multiple types of bacteria that prompts the bacteria to cooperate to change protein expression.

The subject of a new paper in Science, the project represents the first time the Rice researchers have created a biological equivalent to a computer circuit that involves multiple organisms to influence a population.

The researchers’ goal is to modify biological systems by controlling how bacteria influence each other. This could lead to bacteria that, for instance, beneficially alter the gut microbiome in humans. Humans’stomachs have a lot of different kinds of bacteria, said Rice synthetic biologist Matthew Bennett.

“They naturally form a large consortium. One thought is that when we engineer bacteria to be placed into guts, they should also be part of a consortium. Working together allows them to effect more change than if they worked in isolation.”

In the proof–of–concept study, Bennett and his team created two strains of genetically engineered bacteria that regulate the production of proteins essential to intercellular signaling pathways, which allow cells to coordinate their efforts, generally in beneficial ways.