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ANIMAL-BACTERIAL SYMBIOSIS. "How have bacteria facilitated the origin and evolution of animals; how do animals and bacteria affect each other’s genomes; how does normal animal development depend on bacterial partners; how is homeostasis maintained between animals and their symbionts; and how can ecological approaches deepen our understanding of the multiple levels of animal–bacterial interaction." http://www.pnas.org/content/110/9/3229.full View in LinkedIn

TRADITIONAL VIEW. "Animal development has traditionally been viewed as an autonomous process directed by the genome." https://lnkd.in/dbY8TYa View in LinkedIn

FRAGMENT FROM NATURE this next two weekend focuses on a brilliant and inspiring paper by Professor Jennifer J. Wernegreen and her team. It is widely rooted in a biological context, deeply illustrative on a case by case basis, clinical, ecological and touches on the new thinking that is emerging in life sciences. Specifically, it focuses on the ecological intimacy of bacteria and their hosts including humans. And it could equally be rewritten to star the same role of viruses. View in LinkedIn

BACTERIAL TRANSMISSION. "Many animals, including a wide variety of insects, have transovarial (i.e., via the egg to the embryo) transmission of bacterial partners. Whereas developmentally important symbioses have been documented throughout the postembryonic (larval and juvenile) stages of vertebrate and arthropod life cycles, the roles of symbiotic microbes during normal embryonic development are just beginning to be studied." http://www.pnas.org/content/110/9/3229.full View in LinkedIn

SUPERORGANISM. "A colony of ants, however, is a sophisticated complex system, a “superorganism” in which the components work together to accomplish difficult and complicated goals." http://natureofcode.com/book/chapter-6-autonomous-agents/ View in LinkedIn

SYMBIOTIC PROBIOTICS IN SHRIMP. "Several animals recruit specific bacteria to their embryonic surfaces to provide protection against potential pathogens. For example, the shrimp Palaemon macrodactylus is protected from the fungus Lagenidium callinectes by 2,3-indolinedione that is produced by an Alteromonas sp. on the embryo’s surface." http://www.pnas.org/content/110/9/3229.full View in LinkedIn

SIMPLE UNITS."An ant is an autonomous agent; it can perceive its environment (using antennae to gather information about the direction and strength of chemical signals) and make decisions about how to move based on those signals. But can a single ant acting alone build a nest, gather food, defend its queen? An ant is a simple unit and can only perceive its immediate environment." https://lnkd.in/egvy92W View in LinkedIn

SELF AND NON-SELF. "From their earliest stages of development, animals use sophisticated mechanisms to manage their microbial environment. Physical barriers, such as capsules, chorions, and mucus, protect eggs by excluding microbes, and chemical barriers, including antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), shape the composition of the associated microbiota." http://www.pnas.org/content/110/9/3229.full View in LinkedIn

MOBILE AGENTS. "In computer science, a mobile agent is a composition of computer software and data which is able to migrate (move) from one computer to another autonomously and continue its execution on the destination computer." https://lnkd.in/eziiUqw View in LinkedIn

NON-LINEAR, COMPETITIVE, FEEDBACK. "Three additional features of complex systems. Non-linearity (butterfly effect). Competition and cooperation. Feedback." And group behavior, flocking. http://natureofcode.com/book/chapter-6-autonomous-agents/ View in LinkedIn