Bacterial Cell-to-Cell Communication

Many bacterial diseases are caused by organisms growing together as communities or biofilms. These microorganisms have the capacity to coordinately regulate specific sets of genes by sensing and communicating amongst themselves utilizing a variety of signals. This book examines the mechanisms of quorum sensing and cell-to-cell communication in bacteria and the roles that these processes play in regulating virulence, bacterial interactions with host tissues, and microbial development. Recent studies suggest that microbial cell-to-cell communication plays an important role in the pathogenesis of a variety of disease processes. Furthermore, some bacterial signal molecules may possess immunomodulatory activity. Thus, understanding the mechanisms and outcomes of bacterial cell-to-cell communication has important implications for appreciating host-pathogen interactions and ultimately may provide new targets for antimicrobial therapies that block or interfere with these communication networks.

Spis treści:
Introduction Donald R. Demuth and Richard Lamont
1. Quorum sensing and regulation of P. aeruginosa infections Victoria E. Wagner and Barbara Iglewski
2. The Pseudomonas aeruginosa quinolone signal Everett Pesci
3. Quorum sensing mediated regulation of plant/bacteria interactions and A. tumafaciens virulence Catharine C. White and Stephen C. Winans
4. Jamming bacterial communications, new strategies to combat bacterial infections and the development of biofilms Michael Givskov and Morton Hentzer
5. Quorum sensing-mediated regulation of biofilm growth and virulence of Vibrio cholerae Jun Zhu and John. J. Mekalanos
6. LuxS in cellular metabolism and cell-cell signaling Kangmin Duan and Michael Surette
7. LuxS dependent regulation of E. coli virulence Marcie B. Clarke and Vanessa Sperandio
8. Quorum sensing and cell-to-cell communication in the dental biofilm Donald R. Demuth and Richard Lamont
9. Quorum sensing-dependent regulation of staphylococcal virulence and biofilm development Jeremy Yarwood
10. Cell density dependent regulation of streptococcal competence M. Dilani Senadheera, Celine Levesque and D. Cvitkovitch
11. Signaling by a cell surface-associated signal during fruiting body morphogenesis in Myxococcus xanthus Lotte Søgaard-Andersen.