Document Type
Article
Publication Date
10-21-2017
Publication Title
Pathogens
Volume
6
Issue
4
First page number:
1
Last page number:
9
Abstract
Bacteria are social creatures that are able to interact and coordinate behaviors with each other in a multitude of ways. The study of such group behaviors in microbes was coined “sociomicrobiology” in 2005. Two such group behaviors in bacteria are quorum sensing (QS) and biofilm formation. At a very basic level, QS is the ability to sense bacterial density via cell-to-cell signaling using self-produced signals called autoinducers, and biofilms are aggregates of cells that are attached to one another via a self-produced, extracellular matrix. Since cells in biofilm aggregates are in close proximity, biofilms represent an ecologically relevant environment for QS. While QS is known to affect biofilm formation in both Gram-negative and Gram-positive species, in this review, we will focus exclusively on Gram-negative bacteria, with an emphasis on Pseudomonas aeruginosa. We will begin by describing QS systems in P. aeruginosa and how they affect P. aeruginosa biofilm formation. We then expand our review to other Gram-negative bacteria and conclude with interesting questions with regard to the effect of biofilms on QS. © 2017 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
Keywords
Sociomicrobiology; Quorum sensing; Biofilm; Signaling
Disciplines
Life Sciences
File Format
File Size
603
Language
English
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Repository Citation
Passos da Silva, D.,
Schofield, M. C.,
Parsek, M. R.,
Tseng, B. S.
(2017).
An Update on the Sociomicrobiology of Quorum Sensing in Gram-negative Biofilm Development.
Pathogens, 6(4),
1-9.
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/pathogens6040051