The social behavior of myxobacteria

Myxobacteria are social microorganisms that undergo a spectacular cell cycle. Under starvation conditions, cells aggregate to certain points originating macroscopic fruiting bodies, inside which cells differentiate into myxospores. To accomplish this developmental cycle, cells must communicate. The signals that cells exchange during development as well as the signal transduction systems used by myxobacteria have been intensively studied during the last years. A family of eukaryotic-like protein serine/threonine kinases has been identified in Myxococcus xanthus, indicating that signal transduction systems similar to those used by eukaryotic cells may also function in myxobacteria.