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Bacteria communicate with one another via the production and detection of secreted signal molecules called autoinducers. This process, called “Quorum Sensing”, allows bacteria to synchronize behavior on a population-wide scale. Behaviors controlled by quorum sensing are unproductive when undertaken by an individual bacterium acting alone but become effective when undertaken in unison by the group. For example, quorum sensing controls virulence factor production and biofilm formation. Eukaryotes harboring quorum-sensing bacteria participate in these chemical conversations by providing the substrates bacteria need to make autoinducers. Quorum-sensing autoinducer information can be hijacked by viruses that infect and kill bacteria. Thus, interactions across the eukaryotic, bacterial, and viral domains all rely on quorum sensing. Quorum-sensing disruption strategies are being developed into new anti-microbials and phage therapies.
