In a new peer-reviewed study, researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev say microbes may be more socially aware than previously understood.

The findings offer a new perspective on how these single-celled organisms detect one another’s presence and change their behavior to reduce conflict and enhance work productivity.

The prevailing scientific thinking is that “organisms compete all the time for resources, and the ones that are better adapted will survive,” Prof. Itzhak Mizrahi of Ben-Gurion’s Department of Life Sciences told The Times of Israel in a video call.

“But what we found is that they somehow have the capability of sensing each other and what other microbes are doing,” said Mizrahi, who supervised the research. “Then they stop doing what is very similar and start doing something else.”

Led by Dr. Sarah Moraïs and recently published in Nature Microbiology, the study can help scientists design microbial communities for use in probiotics, biotechnology, and sustainable agriculture.

A focus of Mizrahi’s lab is on reducing methane, produced by cows.

More than 20% of global methane emissions come from livestock raised for human consumption, much of it produced by microbes that reside in the cow’s stomach, which is then released into the atmosphere through burping.

In practical terms, by understanding how microbes interact with one another, scientists may eventually be able to modify the microbes inside a cow’s rumen to emit less methane and produce more........

© The Times of Israel