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Abstract
In the past decade, significant debate has surrounded the relative contributions of
genetic determinants versus environmental conditions to certain types of human behavior.
While this debate goes on, it is with a certain degree of irony that microbiologists
studying aspects of bacterial community behavior face the same questions. Information
regarding two social phenomena exhibited by bacteria, quorum sensing and biofilm development,
is reviewed here. These two topics have been inextricably linked, possibly because
biofilms and quorum sensing represent two areas in which microbiologists focus on
social aspects of bacteria. We will examine what is known about this linkage and discuss
areas that might be developed. In addition, we believe that these two aspects of bacterial
behavior represent a small part of the social repertoire of bacteria. Bacteria exhibit
many social activities and they represent a model for dissecting social behavior at
the genetic level. Therefore, we introduce the term 'sociomicrobiology'.