Rf. Rosenzweig et J. Adams, MICROBIAL ADAPTATION TO A CHANGEABLE ENVIRONMENT - CELL-CELL INTERACTIONS MEDIATE PHYSIOLOGICAL AND GENETIC DIFFERENTIATION, BioEssays, 16(10), 1994, pp. 715-717
Recent work by Magnuson, Solomon and Grossman((1)) adds to a growing b
ody of evidence indicating that microorganisms possess sophisticated s
ignaling systems that enable them to sense and respond to environmenta
l challenges. Typically, this response results in morphological, physi
ological and even genetic differentiation, paralleling that observed a
mong higher organisms. These signaling systems may be interpreted as a
daptations that maximize the reproductive potential of a population.