INVITED: Microbial Communication via Quorum Sensing

On the 50th Anniversary of the discovery of autoinduction and the ensuing birth of quorum sensing

“…From this point on, many others (see reviews: Boedicker and Nealson, ; Whiteley et al ., ; Abisado et al ., ; Ahatar and Zhang, ) have carried the studies of autoinduction (QS) onwards, with many variations of the HSL theme: variations that allow for species specificity and for simultaneous control of many widely spaced genes in the genomes (Boedicker and Nealson, ; Whiteley et al ., ; Abisado et al ., ; Ahatar and Zhang, ). QS has become the general moniker for the process, and while it is a catchy name that I like, the process does not actually sense the number of cells, but rather the amount of AI that is present.…”

“…Who would have imagined the autoinduction of bacterial bioluminescence leading to the explosion of QS? We now know that there are many types of autoinducers and many uses to the communication systems – and even systems to inactivate QS systems (Boedicker and Nealson, ; Whiteley et al ., ; Abisado et al ., ; Ahatar and Zhang, ). It is a strong argument for the importance of basic (i.e.…”

“…After the publication of the Engebrecht paper (and a few other minor additions), I moved my own area of work to the general topic of geobiology, studying the role of bacteria in the oxidation and reduction of metalssomething that still interests and challenges me and has provided another odyssey of discovery that is still in progress! From this point on, many others (see reviews: Boedicker and Nealson, 2015;Whiteley et al, 2017;Abisado et al, 2018;Ahatar and Zhang, 2019) have carried the studies of autoinduction (QS) onwards, with many variations of the HSL theme: variations that allow for species specificity and for simultaneous control of many widely spaced genes in the genomes (Boedicker and Nealson, 2015;Whiteley et al, 2017;Abisado et al, 2018;Ahatar and Zhang, 2019). QS has become the general moniker for the process, and while it is a catchy name that I like, the process does not actually sense the number of cells, but rather the amount of AI that is present.…”

“…Subsequent work by a host of others has revealed many subtly different molecules that provide species specificity of autoinduction: the family of homoserine lactone (HSL) autoinducers ( Fig. 4) (Boedicker and Nealson, 2015;Whiteley et al, 2017;Abisado et al, 2018;Ahatar and Zhang, 2019).…”

Expected Density of Cooperative Bacteria in a 2D Quorum Sensing Based Molecular Communication System

“…Microscopic populations utilize QS to complete many collaborative activities, such as virulence and bioluminescence. These tasks play a crucial role in bacterial infections, environmental remediation, and wastewater treatment [1]. Since the QS process is highly dependent on signaling molecules, the accurate characterization of releasing, diffusion, degradation, and reception of such molecules across the environment in which bacteria live is very important to understand and control QS.…”