Sociomicrobiology: A personal perspective on an emerging research area

Abstract

In the late 1960s, the idea that certain marine luminescent bacteria used a self-produced autoinducer to induce light production was developing. Autoinduction of luminescence in marine bacteria allows individuals in a community to cooperate. It controls a social behavior. Research in the last 30 years has led to discovery of several chemically distinct families of signals used for bacterial communication. The next decade will see interest in the evolution of quorum sensing systems and in bacteria as models to study the biology of cooperative behavior.