Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics, Uppal, Hyderabad, India.
Int J Dev Biol. 2020;64(4-5-6):259-265. doi: 10.1387/ijdb.190176sc.
Multicellularity is associated with higher eukaryotes having an organized division of labour and a coordinated action of different organs composed of multiple cell types. This division of different cell types and organizations to form a multicellular structure by developmental programming is a key to the multitasking of complex traits that enable higher eukaryotes to cope with fluctuating environmental conditions. Microbes such as bacteria, on the other hand, are unicellular and have flourished in diverse environmental conditions for a much longer time than eukaryotes in evolutionary history. In this review, we will focus on different strategies and functions exhibited by microbes that enable them to adapt to changes in lifestyle associated with transitioning from a unicellular solitary state to a complex community architecture known as a biofilm. We will also discuss various environmental stimuli and signaling processes which bacteria utilize to coordinate their social traits and enable themselves to form complex multicellular-like biofilm structures, and the division of labour operative within such communities driving their diverse social traits. We will also discuss here recent studies from our laboratory using a plant-associated bacterial pathogen as a model organism to elucidate the mechanism of bacterial cell-cell communication and the transition of a bacterial community to a multicellular-like structure driven by the complex regulation of traits influenced by cell density, as well as environmental sensing such as chemotaxis and nutrient availability. These studies are shedding important insights into bacterial developmental transitions and will help us to understand community cooperation and conflict using bacterial cell-cell communication as a model system.
多细胞性与高等真核生物具有组织分工和不同器官的协调行动有关，这些器官由多种细胞类型组成。通过发育编程将不同的细胞类型和组织划分并形成多细胞结构是实现复杂特征的多任务处理的关键，这些特征使高等真核生物能够应对不断变化的环境条件。另一方面，微生物（如细菌）是单细胞生物，在进化史上比真核生物存在的时间长得多，它们在各种环境条件下都很繁荣。在这篇综述中，我们将重点介绍微生物表现出的不同策略和功能，这些策略和功能使它们能够适应与从单细胞独居状态向称为生物膜的复杂群落结构的转变相关的生活方式变化。我们还将讨论细菌用来协调其社交特征并使自身形成复杂的类似多细胞生物的生物膜结构的各种环境刺激和信号转导过程，以及在这些群落中起作用的劳动分工，推动其多样化的社会特征。我们还将在这里讨论我们实验室最近的研究，使用与植物相关的细菌病原体作为模型生物，阐明细菌细胞间通讯的机制以及细菌群落向多细胞样结构的转变，这种转变是由受细胞密度和环境感应（如趋化性和营养可用性）影响的复杂特征调控驱动的。这些研究为细菌的发育转变提供了重要的见解，并将帮助我们使用细菌细胞间通讯作为模型系统来理解群落的合作与冲突。
