BAKTEERIT KOMMUNIKOIVAT KESKENÄÄN

[Bb]

Lähettäjä: Soijuv Lähetetty: 6.10.2004 12:58

Seuraavan artikkelin mukaan bakteereita tulisi tutkia yhteisöinä eikä yksittäin. Ne kykenevät kommunikoimaan keskenään; muuttavat esim. DNA:taan, muodostavat biofilmin ja aiheuttavat tulehduksia:


The Scientist
Volume 18 | Issue 17 | 26 | Sep. 13, 2004

Vision | The Language of Bacteria... and Just About Everything Else
Secrets to immune and endocrine function may lie in interkingdom communication
By Kendra Rumbaugh

Mammals possess sophisticated endocrine networks in which hormonal signals
modulate hundreds of biological effects such as cell differentiation,
reproduction, and immune responses. Disrupting these pathways often leads
to dire consequences such as birth defects and cancer. Though bacteria are
unicellular, they also possess signaling pathways that can be likened to
tiny endocrine systems.

Bacterial quorum sensing (QS) pathways allow bacteria to sense their cell
density and respond by coordinating protein expression. Thus bacteria
communicate and can coordinate their efforts in diverse activities such as
building biofilms, transferring DNA, or causing infections. QS has forced
microbiologists to view bacteria not as single entities but as interactive
and heterogeneous communities that must be studied within this context.
This interactivity and communication extends beyond microbes at
prokaryote-eukaryote interfaces such as the host-pathogen relationship.
Thus, much of what we are learning may extend beyond the microbial world.

Read this article at
http://www.the-scientist.com/yr2004/sep ... 40913.html