Parsek Matthew R, Greenberg E P
Department of Microbiology, The University of Iowa, 540 EMRB, Iowa City, IA 52242-1109, USA.
Trends Microbiol. 2005 Jan;13(1):27-33. doi: 10.1016/j.tim.2004.11.007.
In the past decade, significant debate has surrounded the relative contributions of genetic determinants versus environmental conditions to certain types of human behavior. While this debate goes on, it is with a certain degree of irony that microbiologists studying aspects of bacterial community behavior face the same questions. Information regarding two social phenomena exhibited by bacteria, quorum sensing and biofilm development, is reviewed here. These two topics have been inextricably linked, possibly because biofilms and quorum sensing represent two areas in which microbiologists focus on social aspects of bacteria. We will examine what is known about this linkage and discuss areas that might be developed. In addition, we believe that these two aspects of bacterial behavior represent a small part of the social repertoire of bacteria. Bacteria exhibit many social activities and they represent a model for dissecting social behavior at the genetic level. Therefore, we introduce the term 'sociomicrobiology'.
在过去十年中，关于基因决定因素与环境条件对某些人类行为类型的相对贡献，一直存在着激烈的争论。在这场争论持续的同时，研究细菌群落行为方面的微生物学家面临着同样的问题，这颇具讽刺意味。本文回顾了有关细菌表现出的两种社会现象的信息，即群体感应和生物膜形成。这两个主题紧密相连，可能是因为生物膜和群体感应代表了微生物学家关注细菌社会方面的两个领域。我们将研究关于这种联系的已知信息，并讨论可能拓展的领域。此外，我们认为细菌行为的这两个方面只是细菌社会行为的一小部分。细菌表现出许多社会活动，它们是在基因层面剖析社会行为的一个模型。因此，我们引入了“社会微生物学”这个术语。
