Unicellular but not asocial. Life in community of a bacterium Authors Diego Romero Institute of Subtropical and Mediterranean Horticulture “La Mayora”, University of Malaga, CSIC, Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Sciences, Malaga, Spain. Keywords: evolution, molecular machinery, multicellular community, prokaryotic cells, global responses Abstract All living organisms have acquired the outstanding ability to overcome the limitations imposed by changeable environments through the gain of genetic traits over years of evolution and the tendency of individuals to associate in communities. The complementation of a singular weakness, the deployment of reinforcement for the good of the community, the better use of resources, or effective defense against external aggression are advantages gained by this communal behavior. Communication has been the cohesive element prompting the global responses that promote efficiency in two features of any community: specialization in differentiated labor and the spatio-temporal organization of the environment. These principles illustrate that what we call human ecology also applies to the cellular world and is exemplified in eukaryotic organisms, where sophisticated cell-to-cell communication networks coordinate cell differentiation and the specialization of multiple tissues consisting of numerous cells embedded in a multifunctional extracellular matrix. This sophisticated molecular machinery appears, however, to be invented by the “simple” but still fascinating bacteria. What I will try to expand in the following sections are notions of how “single prokaryotic cells” organize a multicellular community. [Int Microbiol 19(2):81-90 (2016)]Keywords: evolution · molecular machinery · multicellular community · prokaryotic cells · global responses Downloads PDF Issue Vol. 19 No. 2 (2016) Section Research Reviews License Submission of a manuscript to International Microbiology implies: that the work described has not been published before, including publication in the World Wide Web (except in the form of an Abstract or as part of a published lecture, review, or thesis); that it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere; that all the coauthors have agreed to its publication. The corresponding author signs for and accepts responsability for releasing this material and will act on behalf of any and all coauthors regarding the editorial review and publication process.If an article is accepted for publication in International Microbiology, the authors (or other copyright holder) must transfer to the journal the right–not exclusive–to reproduce and distribute the article including reprints, translations, photographic reproductions, microform, electronic form (offline, online) or any other reproductions of similar nature. Nevertheless, all article in International Microbiology will be available on the Internet to any reader at no cost. The journal allows users to freely download, copy, print, distribute, search, and link to the full text of any article, provided the authorship and source of the published article is cited. The copyright owner's consent does not include copying for new works, or resale. In these cases, the specific written permission of International Microbiology must first be obtained.Authors are requested to create a link to the published article on the journal's website. The link must be accompanied by the following text: "The original publication is available on LINK at <http://www.im.microbios.org>. Please use the appropiate URL for the article in LINK. Articles disseminated via LINK are indexed, abstracted, and referenced by many abstracting and information services, bibliographic networks, subscription agencies, library networks, and consortia.
