SnapShot: Electrochemical Communication in Biofilms.

Lee, Dong-Yeon D; Prindle, Arthur; Liu, Jintao; Süel, Gürol M · Cell · 2017

review · Level V

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Abstract

The role of electricity in biological systems was first appreciated through electrical stimulation experiments performed by Luigi Galvani in the 18<sup>th</sup> century. These pioneering experiments demonstrated that the behavior of living tissues is governed by the flow of electrochemical species-an insight that gave rise to the modern field of electrophysiology. Since then, electrophysiology has largely remained a bastion of neuroscience. However, exciting recent developments have demonstrated that even simple bacteria residing in communities use electrochemical communication to coordinate population-level behaviors. These recent works are defining the emerging field of bacterial biofilm electrophysiology. To view this SnapShot, open or download the PDF.

Medical subject headings