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Bacterial Populations as Multicellular Organisms. Kathy Lee. INTRODUCTION. 1998 … Scientific American – “Bacteria as Multicellular Organisms” Multicellularity- only considered a specialized adaptive strategy Today. CORE CONCEPTS OF BACTERIAL MULTICELLULARITY.
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INTRODUCTION • 1998 … Scientific American – “Bacteria as Multicellular Organisms” • Multicellularity- only considered a specialized adaptive strategy • Today
CORE CONCEPTS OF BACTERIAL MULTICELLULARITY • Communication and decision-making capabilities • Examples of communication and behaviors • Derive adaptive benefits
INTERCELLULAR COMMUNICATION • Diverse Classes of Signal Molecules • AHL signaling • Oligopeptides • Differences between AHL signaling and Oligopeptides • Not all the small diffusible molecules are signals • Highly diversified chemical structures
Signal Response Systems: Interpreting Chemical Messages in an Informationally Rich Environment • Each cell can make an appropriate decision and adjust its activity • Myxobacteria and Bacillus – two good examples of complex signal-processing networks • Complexities will prove to be typical
COORDINATED MULTICELLULAR BEHAVIORS – A GENERAL BACTERIAL TRAIT • Bacteria differentiate biochemically and morphologically and their interactions • Colony development and collective motility phenomena in bacteria
E.coli Colony Development • Cell-cell interactions occur after the first cell division • B. subtilis Colony Development • Proteus and Serratia Swarming • “Swarming” is the process of rapid migration over a surface • Granule Development in Anaerobic Bioreactors • Microbial Consortia
ADAPTIVE BENEFITS FROM MULTICELLULAR COOPERATION • More efficient proliferation from cellular division • Access to resources and niches that require a critical mass and cannot effectively be utilized by isolated cells • Collective defense against antagonists that eliminate isolated cells
Optimization of population survival by differentiation into distinct cell types • Sporulation and Formation of Dormant Cells • Exchange of Genetic Information • Mutation
CONCLUSION • Bacterial multicellularity deepens our appreciation of the information-processing capabilities of individual bacterial cells.