Quorum sensing signaling in mammalian gut microbes

Abstract

"For a long time, bacteria were thought to function as individual organisms. Currently, mounting evidence shows that bacteria form communities interacting and communicating through cell-cell signaling mechanisms like quorum sensing (QS). One of the most studied communities is the gut microbiota, which plays an important role in human health. However, the role of cell-cell communication via QS in the gut microbiota is still underexplored, mainly in the Bacteroidota phylum, where only a few members possess synthases of known QS signals. This fact inspired us to conduct the work described in this thesis, which aimed to characterize the production of and response to QS signals in gut bacteria, focusing on the Bacteroidota phylum.(...)"