Personalities in Bacteria

Please read my Previous friendly blog to keep following what I am trying to tell here.

We learned that bacteria are social species and interact with each other using chemicals. The specific term for that is 'autoinducers'. Moving ahead, these autoinducers' job is not just confined to the microbial community but also the environment around them. For example, the autoinducers in the gut are responsible for particular functions of the digestive system itself. So basically what I am trying to say is socially active microbes do not just influence their growth but the environment they are living in as well. 

Like people, these microbes can also be called extroverts, or introverts, spreading positive or negative vibes, etc. Some microbes talk only amongst themselves (species-specific autoinducer) while others go beyond their circle and talk to all the different species (crosstalk between species). Those who are extremely extroverts can communicate so well that they can influence other species either negatively or positively. 

For example, you would have heard of Staphylococcus (commonly known as Staph) infection which is quite common in food poisoning. Certain Bacillus species that produce spores (a kind of autoinducer), negatively impact the Staph bodies and infection can be under control.   

You might be wondering how introverts influence each other as a community. Let's take an example of Cholera. The microbe responsible for Cholera is called Vibrio cholerae (VC). Each VC cell contributes to the formation of biofilm. And what in God's name are Biofilms? 

Imagine a person building a home with bricks. He would be taking a long time to construct the home alone along with battling the objections from his environment, say rainy or windy days. What if more people joined him? They would build the home faster and protect themselves sooner from environmental damage. Imagine the same for microbial communities. They need to protect themselves to survive and thrive. So a roof over such a community is nothing but the Biofilm. Each cell produces the brick that eventually forms the Biofilm. The larger the community thicker the Biofilm which in turn is harmful for humans as Biofilm protects the VC from the human environment.   

How about that! Isn't it interesting to know microbes and humans are so similar yet unique?