Quorum Sensing, Bioluminescence, and Community

Courier-Times Christian Perspectives for Saturday, August 9, 2008

Quorum sensing, bioluminescence, virulence, autoinducers, and community; big words for a simple mind like mine, but I learned about all of them while watching NOVA on PBS.

It seems that Princeton University’s Bonnie Bassler has pioneered some remarkable science that may one day yield new ways to combat bacterial infections. Along the way, Bonnie and her research team have uncovered another example of how God has designed all of creation to live, work, and play in community.

While studying a harmless bacterium called Vibrio harveyi, Bassler discovered that there was something these little bacterial cells could do when they all worked together, that they could not accomplish while working alone. They could glow!

Individually, their little light would not make any impact at all, but collectively they could create a wonderful blue light. The exciting part is that they don’t try to generate light at all until they sense that there are enough individuals gathered to make their “lighting party” effective. They sense when they have a quorum large enough to effectively shine.

Now, no one believes that Vibrio harveyi held a convention or a business meeting, did research on candlepower and luminescence, and determined exactly how many individual bacteria are needed to efficiently “turn on” the glow switch. Scientists believe these little cells “communicate” using special molecules they produce and send to each other – like instant messages. People of faith see the hand of a creative God at work in establishing community at a grass-roots level.

The same quorum sensing and cooperative group activity happens in other bacteria that actually cause disease. The belief among the scientific community is that if they can disrupt this “grass-roots” communication they can prevent bacterial diseases in humans.

By now you are asking, “What does that have to do with the church?” I’m glad you asked. It confirms that at a very basic level, God designed the universe to work cooperatively in community. God, as revealed in the trinity, (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) is community; and His creation reflects that essence of who He is.

It also confirms that there are some things that the church can only do effectively if and when it works together in community. What could the church in Henry County do, and only do, when it worked with the rest of the church? How can we let our “light shine” together? How is the enemy of the church effectively blocking communication, preventing us from “turning on the light”?

There’s a lot we can learn from our little friend, Vibrio harveyi. Imagine all that God could do if the church worked together.

One opportunity the church has to come together in worship will be Sunday evening, August 31st, 2008 at the First Baptist Church on South Memorial Drive. I encourage you to show up and do some quorum sensing of your own. Maybe there will even be an after-glow :-)