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Nature 437, 330 (15 September 2005) | doi:10.1038/437330a; Published online 14 September 2005
Microbiology: Bacterial speech bubbles
Stephen C. Winans1
Abstract
Many bacteria socialize using diffusible signals. But some of these messages are poorly soluble, so how do they move between bacteria? It seems they can be wrapped up in membrane packages instead.
On page 422 of this issue, Mashburn and Whiteley1 describe the unexpected convergence of two seemingly unrelated areas of microbiological research: how bacteria talk to their friends, and how they attack their enemies. The authors studied the bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which releases a hydrophobic molecule called the 'pseudomonas quinolone signal' (PQS) to send messages to other bacteria of the same species.
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