By Susan Gaidos
Bacteria aren’t loners. In fact, they are quite social: These single-celled creatures band together to form sophisticated communities. They can even call out to each other to congregate, conspire and coordinate. Highly developed communication skills allow them to orchestrate small acts of cooperation and tackle big jobs as a unified force. For life’s tiniest players, living and working is a team sport.
Researchers now want to join in the game — and change the rules. Synthetic biologists are working to find ways to manipulate entire microbe communities to get them to do things they ordinarily wouldn’t — like tracking down cancer cells to deliver drugs, fighting antibiotic-resistant infections or manufacturing fuel. By tweaking the genes that direct bacterial communication, or introducing new genes into the microbes, scientists are creating microbial fantasy teams to perform jobs that natural populations simply cannot do.