Microbial communication superhighways.
editorial · Level V
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- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 21335231.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1016/j.cell.2011.02.001 and PMC identifier 3984534.
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Abstract
Exchange of information is critical for bacterial social behaviors. Now Dubey and Ben-Yehuda (2011) provide evidence for bacterial "nanotube" conduits that allow microbes to directly exchange cytoplasmic factors. Protein and DNA transfer between distantly related species raises the prospect of a new, widely distributed mechanism of bacterial communication.