Final Report Summary - EVODEVOQUORUM (Evolution and Development of Bacterial Communication)
The goal of this project was to explore the origins of diversity in bacterial communication systems and to understand their impact on the bacterial physiology and development and on synthetic biology opportunities. We were able to identify conditional exploitation as a major driver of diversity in microbial communities – bacteria use signaling to identify similar bacteria and cooperate only when they are sufficiently abundant. We were able to show that this and related mechanisms are prevalent in bacteria and affect their behavior, opening the door for ideas of using these strategies to manipulate bacteria for our benefit.