New mechanisms of 'social networking' in bacteria discovered
Tuesday, April 7, 2015 - 14:00
in Biology & Nature
Bacteria have traditionally been viewed as solitary organisms that 'hang out on their own,' says a molecular biologist. However, scientists now realize that in fact, bacteria exhibit social behavior within groups. In a new paper, researchers describe how they deciphered this bacterial communication to reveal new mechanisms of regulating gene expression in the model bacterium Bacillus subtilis.