Bacterial social engagements.

Publication Year
2004

Type

Journal Article
Abstract

Quorum sensing is a process that enables bacteria to communicate using secreted signaling molecules called autoinducers. This process enables a population of bacteria to regulate gene expression collectively and, therefore, control behavior on a community-wide scale. Quorum sensing is widespread in the bacterial world and, generally, processes controlled by quorum sensing are unproductive when undertaken by an individual bacterium but become effective when undertaken by the group. Cell-cell communication can occur within and between bacterial species, and between bacteria and their eukaryotic hosts, which suggests that the chemical lexicon is complex. Prokaryotic and eukaryotic mechanisms for enhancing and inhibiting quorum sensing have been identified, which suggests that manipulation of quorum-sensing-controlled processes could be common in bacterial-bacterial and bacterial-eukaryotic associations.

Journal
Trends Cell Biol
Volume
14
Issue
11
Pages
648-56
Date Published
2004 Nov
ISSN Number
0962-8924
Alternate Journal
Trends Cell Biol
PMID
15519854