Information theory & quorum sensing

• Main Author: Chui, Wai Hon.
• Other Authors: Ting See Ho
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Bioengineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/45348
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Quorum sensing is a non-contact communication technique for bacteria cells. This communication improves the chance of the bacteria’s survival rate as well as virulence factor and other tasks that require a collective effort. Although there has been numerous research done on quorum sensing, there is still much more to be learnt about quorum sensing. In this project, my objective is to conduct a more in-depth research in this particular area to understand more about quorum sensing and to find out how much information a bacteria cell transmits and receives in this process This report will discuss the study, done by the author, on quorum sensing and information theory. The author briefly summarizes the main concepts of information theory and quorum sensing in chapter 2 and 3, respectively. In chapter 4, a bacteria is chosen to perform the analysis. The bacteria’s original quorum sensing circuit is modeled into a circuit model for ease of analysis. The quorum sensing circuit is then broken down into key components and analyzed individually to understand how each component performs. Finally, the quorum sensing circuit is analyzed as a whole. Next, the author compares the findings with three other conventional communication methods to provide a gauge of the effectiveness of quorum sensing. Finally, a conclusion is given in chapter 5 to sum up the project and discuss the future works that can be done.