Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 25, 2026
08:51
Applying an Inducible Expression System to Study Interference of Bacterial Virulence Factors with Intracellular Signaling
Published on: June 25, 2015
New developments in microbial interspecies signaling.
Elizabeth Anne Shank1, Roberto Kolter
1Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. roberto_kolter@hms.harvard.edu
Current Opinion in Microbiology
|March 3, 2009
Summary
Small molecules mediate interspecies microbial communication, influencing complex interactions beyond simple competition. This review explores how these signals impact microbe-insect relationships and non-antagonistic outcomes.
Area of Science:
- Microbiology
- Chemical Biology
- Ecology
Background:
- Microbial communities involve complex interactions.
- Intraspecies communication via quorum sensing is well-known.
- Interspecies signaling by small molecules is increasingly recognized.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the role of bacterial small molecules in interspecies interactions.
- To highlight complex microbe-host (insect) and microbe-microbe relationships.
- To discuss the discovery and application of small molecules in microbial ecology.
Main Methods:
- Literature review focusing on interspecies microbial signaling.
- Analysis of studies involving bacterial small molecules.
- Synthesis of findings on non-antagonistic interactions and co-culture discoveries.
Main Results:
- Bacterial small molecules significantly modulate interspecies interactions.
- Complex relationships include microbe-insect symbiosis and developmental modulation.
- Co-culturing facilitates the discovery of novel signaling molecules.
- Known compounds can elicit unexpected responses, mediating microbial crosstalk.
Conclusions:
- Small molecules are key mediators of microbial community structure and function.
- Understanding interspecies signaling offers insights into microbial ecology and biotechnology.
- Targeting small molecule crosstalk presents therapeutic and ecological intervention opportunities.
Related Concept Videos
01:30Bacterial Signaling
Bacterial signaling can occur within bacteria (intracellular) or between bacteria (intercellular). At times, a group of bacteria behaves like a community. To achieve this, they engage in quorum sensing, the perception of higher cell density that causes changes in gene expression. Quorum sensing involves both extracellular and intracellular signaling. The signaling cascade starts with a molecule called an autoinducer (AI). Individual bacteria produce AIs that move out of the bacterial cell...
02:03What is Cell Signaling?
Despite the protective membrane that separates a cell from the environment, cells need the ability to detect and respond to environmental changes. Additionally, cells often need to communicate with one another. Unicellular and multicellular organisms use a variety of cell signaling mechanisms to communicate to respond to the environment.
01:28Gene Regulation in Microbial Communities: Quorum Sensing
Quorum sensing is a mechanism of bacterial communication that enables coordinated gene expression in response to changes in population density. This facilitates collective behaviors that enhance survival, resource acquisition, and ecological adaptation. This process relies on small signaling molecules called autoinducers that accumulate as bacterial populations grow. When a critical threshold concentration of autoinducers is reached, bacterial cells collectively modify gene expression,...
01:28Yeast Signaling
Yeasts are single-celled organisms, but unlike bacteria, they are eukaryotes (cells with a nucleus). Cell signaling in yeast is similar to signaling in other eukaryotic cells. A ligand, such as a protein or a small molecule released from a yeast cell, attaches to a receptor on the cell surface. The binding stimulates second-messenger kinases to activate or inactivate transcription factors that further regulate gene expression. Many of the yeast intracellular signaling cascades have similar...
01:23Overview of Cell Signaling
Despite the protective membrane that separates a cell from the environment, cells need the ability to detect and respond to environmental changes. Additionally, cells often need to communicate with one another. Unicellular and multicellular organisms use a variety of cell signaling mechanisms to communicate with the environment.
Cells respond to many types of information, often through receptor proteins positioned on the membrane. For example, skin cells respond to and transmit touch...
Cells respond to many types of information, often through receptor proteins positioned on the membrane. For example, skin cells respond to and transmit touch...
01:26Microbial Interactions: Cooperation
Microbial cooperation involves beneficial interactions in which different species work together for individual or mutual advantage. These interactions can profoundly influence ecological dynamics and evolutionary processes, and they are essential to many pathogenic and symbiotic relationships.Nematode–Bacteria CooperationA striking example is the relationship between the Gram-negative bacterium Xenorhabdus nematophila and the parasitic nematode Steinernema carpocapsae. Juvenile nematodes...