Quorum sensing across bacterial and viral domains

Abstract

Quorum sensing (QS) is a process of cell-to-cell communication that bacteria use to orchestrate collective behaviors in response to changes in cell population density and species composition of the community [1]. QS relies on the production, release, and group-wide detection of and response to extracellular signaling molecules called autoinducers (AIs) [1]. Recent studies demonstrate that bacteria-infecting viruses, called phages, also employ chemical communication to regulate collective activities. Phages can encode exclusive phage QS-like systems, or they can tune into and manipulate their host bacterial QS-mediated communication pathways to optimize the timing of the lysis–lysogeny switch. These research advances suggest that phage-mediated QS signaling and phage eavesdropping on bacterial QS signaling drive bacteria–phage interactions, possibly contributing to mechanisms that shape both phage and bacterial biology [2–6]. Here, we briefly review QS in bacteria, and we summarize recent highlights in chemical communication among phages and across the bacterial and phage domains.