Harrison, Freya (2012) Bacterial cooperation in the wild and in the clinic : are pathogen social behaviours relevant outside the laboratory? BioEssays, 35 (2). pp. 108-112. doi:10.1002/bies.201200154 ISSN 0265-9247.

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Abstract

Individual bacterial cells can communicate via quorum sensing, cooperate to harvest nutrients from their environment, form multicellular biofilms, compete over resources and even kill one another. When the environment that bacteria inhabit is an animal host, these social behaviours mediate virulence. Over the last decade, much attention has focussed on the ecology, evolution and pathology of bacterial cooperation, and the possibility that it could be exploited or destabilised to treat infections. But how far can we really extrapolate from theoretical predictions and laboratory experiments to make inferences about ‘cooperative’ behaviours in hosts and reservoirs? To determine the likely importance and evolution of cooperation ‘in the wild’, several questions must be addressed. A recent paper that reports the dynamics of bacterial cooperation and virulence in a field experiment provides an excellent nucleus for bringing together key empirical and theoretical results which help us to frame – if not completely to answer – these questions.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Divisions:	Faculty of Science, Engineering and Medicine > Science > Life Sciences (2010- )
Journal or Publication Title:	BioEssays
Publisher:	John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
ISSN:	0265-9247
Official Date:	2012
Dates:	Date Event 2012 Published
Volume:	35
Number:	2
Page Range:	pp. 108-112
DOI:	10.1002/bies.201200154
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Publication Status:	Published
Access rights to Published version:	Restricted or Subscription Access

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