Bacterial tweets and podcasts #signaling#eavesdropping#microbialfightclub

Once thought to live independently, bacteria are now known to be highly social organisms. Their behaviors ranges from cooperatively forming complex multispecies communities to fiercely competing for resources. Work over the past fifty years has shown that bacteria communicate through diverse mechanisms, such as exchanging diffusible molecules, exporting molecules in membrane vesicles, and interacting through direct cell-cell contact. These methods allow bacteria to sense and respond to other cells around them and coordinate group behavior. In this review, we share the discoveries and lessons learned in the field of bacterial communication with the aim of providing insights to parasitologists and other researchers working on related questions.