Bacterial solutions to multicellularity: a tale of biofilms, filaments and fruiting bodies
Dennis Claessen1, Daniel E Rozen1, Oscar P Kuipers2
11] Molecular Biotechnology, Institute of Biology Leiden, Leiden University, Sylviusweg 72, P.O. Box 9502, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands. [2].
Abstract:
Although bacteria frequently live as unicellular organisms, many spend at least part of their lives in complex communities, and some have adopted truly multicellular lifestyles and have abandoned unicellular growth. These transitions to multicellularity have occurred independently several times for various ecological reasons, resulting in a broad range of phenotypes. In this Review, we discuss the strategies that are used by bacteria to form and grow in multicellular structures that have hallmark features of multicellularity, including morphological differentiation, programmed cell death and patterning. In addition, we examine the evolutionary and ecological factors that lead to the wide range of coordinated multicellular behaviours that are observed in bacteria.
Related Concept Videos
Biofilms
Microbial Morphologies
Microbial Interactions: Cooperation
Bacterial Phylum Actinobacteria
Bacterial Phylum Tenericutes
Prokaryotic Cells
Like eukaryotic cells, all prokaryotic cells are surrounded by a plasma membrane, have genetic material in the form of single, circular DNA, a cytoplasm that fills the interior of the cell, and ribosomes that synthesize...


