A Synthetic Quorum Sensing System Reveals a Potential Private Benefit for Public Good Production in a Biofilm.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Zhang F
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4510612 | biostudies-literature | 2015
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
A Synthetic Quorum Sensing System Reveals a Potential Private Benefit for Public Good Production in a Biofilm.
Zhang Fang F Kwan Anna A Xu Amy A Süel Gürol M GM
PloS one 20150721 7
Bacteria predominantly reside in microbial communities known as biofilms, where cells are encapsulated and protected by the extracellular matrix (ECM). While all biofilm cells benefit from the ECM, only a subgroup of cells carries the burden of producing this public good. This dilemma provokes the question of how these cells balance the cost of ECM production. Here we show that ECM producing cells have a higher gene expression response to quorum sensing (QS) signals, which can lead to a private ...[more]
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