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  • NEWS FEATURE

The secret social lives of viruses

Scientists are listening in on the ways viruses communicate and cooperate. Decoding what the microbes are saying could be a boon to human health.
  1. Elie Dolgin

    1. Elie Dolgin is a science journalist in Somerville, Massachusetts.

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Illustration by Karol Banach

Geneticist Rotem Sorek could see that his bacteria were sick — so far, so good. He had deliberately infected them with a virus to test whether each ailing microbe soldiered on alone or communicated with its allies to fight the attack.

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Nature 570, 290-292 (2019)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-01880-6

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