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      Quorum Sensing and Bacterial Social Interactions in Biofilms

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          Abstract

          Many bacteria are known to regulate their cooperative activities and physiological processes through a mechanism called quorum sensing (QS), in which bacterial cells communicate with each other by releasing, sensing and responding to small diffusible signal molecules. The ability of bacteria to communicate and behave as a group for social interactions like a multi-cellular organism has provided significant benefits to bacteria in host colonization, formation of biofilms, defense against competitors, and adaptation to changing environments. Importantly, many QS-controlled activities have been involved in the virulence and pathogenic potential of bacteria. Therefore, understanding the molecular details of quorum sensing mechanisms and their controlled social activities may open a new avenue for controlling bacterial infections.

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          Quorum sensing: cell-to-cell communication in bacteria.

          Christopher M Waters, Bonnie L Bassler (2005)
          Bacteria communicate with one another using chemical signal molecules. As in higher organisms, the information supplied by these molecules is critical for synchronizing the activities of large groups of cells. In bacteria, chemical communication involves producing, releasing, detecting, and responding to small hormone-like molecules termed autoinducers . This process, termed quorum sensing, allows bacteria to monitor the environment for other bacteria and to alter behavior on a population-wide scale in response to changes in the number and/or species present in a community. Most quorum-sensing-controlled processes are unproductive when undertaken by an individual bacterium acting alone but become beneficial when carried out simultaneously by a large number of cells. Thus, quorum sensing confuses the distinction between prokaryotes and eukaryotes because it enables bacteria to act as multicellular organisms. This review focuses on the architectures of bacterial chemical communication networks; how chemical information is integrated, processed, and transduced to control gene expression; how intra- and interspecies cell-cell communication is accomplished; and the intriguing possibility of prokaryote-eukaryote cross-communication.
          Article 0 comments Cited 926 times – based on 0 reviews     Review now
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            Social evolution theory for microorganisms.

            Stuart West, Ashleigh S. Griffin, Andy Gardner … (2006)
            Microorganisms communicate and cooperate to perform a wide range of multicellular behaviours, such as dispersal, nutrient acquisition, biofilm formation and quorum sensing. Microbiologists are rapidly gaining a greater understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in these behaviours, and the underlying genetic regulation. Such behaviours are also interesting from the perspective of social evolution - why do microorganisms engage in these behaviours given that cooperative individuals can be exploited by selfish cheaters, who gain the benefit of cooperation without paying their share of the cost? There is great potential for interdisciplinary research in this fledgling field of sociomicrobiology, but a limiting factor is the lack of effective communication of social evolution theory to microbiologists. Here, we provide a conceptual overview of the different mechanisms through which cooperative behaviours can be stabilized, emphasizing the aspects most relevant to microorganisms, the novel problems that microorganisms pose and the new insights that can be gained from applying evolutionary theory to microorganisms.
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              Cooperation and conflict in quorum-sensing bacterial populations.

              Stephen P. Diggle, Ashleigh S. Griffin, Genevieve Campbell … (2007)
              It has been suggested that bacterial cells communicate by releasing and sensing small diffusible signal molecules in a process commonly known as quorum sensing (QS). It is generally assumed that QS is used to coordinate cooperative behaviours at the population level. However, evolutionary theory predicts that individuals who communicate and cooperate can be exploited. Here we examine the social evolution of QS experimentally in the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and show that although QS can provide a benefit at the group level, exploitative individuals can avoid the cost of producing the QS signal or of performing the cooperative behaviour that is coordinated by QS, and can therefore spread. We also show that a solution to the problem of exploitation is kin selection, if interacting bacterial cells tend to be close relatives. These results show that the problem of exploitation, which has been the focus of considerable attention in animal communication, also arises in bacteria.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Journal ID (nlm-ta): Sensors (Basel)
                Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Sensors (Basel)
                Title: Sensors (Basel, Switzerland)
                Publisher: Molecular Diversity Preservation International (MDPI)
                ISSN (Electronic): 1424-8220
                Publication date Collection: 2012
                Publication date (Electronic): 23 February 2012
                Volume: 12
                Issue: 3
                Pages: 2519-2538
                Affiliations
                [1 ] Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 1W2, Canada
                [2 ] Department of Applied Oral Sciences, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, B3H 1W2, Canada; E-Mail: xiao-lin.tian@ 123456dal.ca
                Author notes
                [* ]Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: yung-hua.li@ 123456dal.ca ; Tel.: +1-902-494-3063; Fax: +1-902-494-6621.
                Article
                Publisher ID: sensors-12-02519
                DOI: 10.3390/s120302519
                PMC ID: 3376616
                PubMed ID: 22736963
                SO-VID: 85f731aa-8c64-4d6f-8b50-95383a6aa931
                Copyright © © 2012 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland
                License:

                This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).

                History
                Date received : 6 January 2012
                Date revision received : 9 February 2012
                Date accepted : 10 February 2012
                Categories
                Subject: Review

                ScienceOpen disciplines: Biomedical engineering
                Keywords: biofilms,bacterial infections,bacterial social interactions,quorum sensing
                Data availability:
                ScienceOpen disciplines: Biomedical engineering
                Keywords: biofilms, bacterial infections, bacterial social interactions, quorum sensing

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