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The Physical Basis of Bacterial Quorum Communication

  • Book
  • © 2015

Overview

Editors:
  1. Stephen J. Hagen

    1. Department of Physics, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA

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  • Analyzes bacterial quorum sensing from a physical and mathematical perspective
  • Explores the role of spatiotemporal diffusion, regulatory dynamics, stochasticity and information in quorum communication
  • Includes contributions from leading experimentalists, theoreticians, engineers and modelers
  • Takes a physical science and engineering approach to the subject, but will appeal to anyone with a background in physical biology

Part of the book series: Biological and Medical Physics, Biomedical Engineering (BIOMEDICAL)

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Table of contents (12 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-ix
    Download chapter PDF

  2. Introduction

    • Stephen J. Hagen
    Pages 1-5

  3. Modeling of Signal Transduction by the Quorum-Sensing Pathway in the Vibrios

    • Arnab Bandyopadhyay, Andrew T. Fenley, Suman K. Banik, Rahul V. Kulkarni
    Pages 7-18

  4. Stochastic Effects in Quorum Sensing

    • Marc Weber, Javier Buceta
    Pages 19-52

  5. Spatial Structure of Microbes in Nature and the Biophysics of Cell–Cell Communication

    • James Q. Boedicker, Katie Brenner, Douglas B. Weibel
    Pages 53-81

  6. Functionality of Autoinducer Systems in Complex Environments

    • B. A. Hense, C. Kuttler, J. Müller
    Pages 83-103

  7. Localization of Quorum Sensing by Extracellular Polymeric Substances (EPS): Considerations of In Situ Signaling

    • Alan W. Decho
    Pages 105-121

  8. Swimming in Information? Physical Limits to Learning by Quorum Sensing

    • Stephen J. Hagen
    Pages 123-144

  9. Interplay Between Sibling Bacterial Colonies

    • Avraham Be’er, Sivan Benisty, Gil Ariel, Eshel Ben-Jacob
    Pages 145-162

  10. Mathematical Insights into the Role of Feedback in Quorum-Sensing Architectures

    • Sara Jabbari, John R. King
    Pages 163-188

  11. The Role of Biosurfactants in Bacterial Systems

    • Raf De Dier, Maarten Fauvart, Jan Michiels, Jan Vermant
    Pages 189-204

  12. Ecology of a Simple Synthetic Biofilm

    • Edward M. Nelson, Utkur Mirsaidov, Koshala Sarveswaran, Nicolas Perry, Volker Kurz, Winston Timp et al.
    Pages 205-226

  13. Engineering Cell-to-Cell Communication to Explore Fundamental Questions in Ecology and Evolution

    • Robert Phillip Smith, Lauren Boudreau, Lingchong You
    Pages 227-247

  14. Back Matter

    Pages 249-252
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Keywords

About this book

Quorum sensing (QS) describes a chemical communication behavior that is nearly universal among bacteria. Individual cells release a diffusible small molecule (an autoinducer) into their environment. A high concentration of this autoinducer serves as a signal of high population density, triggering new patterns of gene expression throughout the population. However QS is often much more complex than this simple census-taking behavior. Many QS bacteria produce and detect multiple autoinducers, which generate quorum signal cross talk with each other and with other bacterial species. QS gene regulatory networks respond to a range of physiological and environmental inputs in addition to autoinducer signals. While a host of individual QS systems have been characterized in great molecular and chemical detail, quorum communication raises many fundamental quantitative problems which are increasingly attracting the attention of physical scientists and mathematicians.  Key questions include: What kinds of information can a bacterium gather about its environment through QS? What physical principles ultimately constrain the efficacy of diffusion-based communication?  How do QS regulatory networks maximize information throughput while minimizing undesirable noise and cross talk? How does QS function in complex, spatially structured environments such as biofilms?  Previous books and reviews have focused on the microbiology and biochemistry of QS. With contributions by leading scientists and mathematicians working in the field of physical biology,  this volume examines the interplay of diffusion and signaling, collective and coupled dynamics of gene regulation, and spatiotemporal QS phenomena. Chapters will describe experimental studies of QS in natural and engineered or microfabricated bacterial environments, as well as modeling of QS on length scales spanning from the molecular to macroscopic. The book aims to educate physical scientists and quantitative-orientedbiologists on the application of physics-based experiment and analysis, together with appropriate modeling, in the understanding and interpretation of the pervasive phenomenon of microbial quorum communication.

Editors and Affiliations

  • Department of Physics, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA

    Stephen J. Hagen

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