Physiological Advantage of Phenotypic Heterogeneity in a Quorum‑Sensing Population

Abstract

Quorum sensing, or the ability of a population, to respond to
an environmental cue in a coordinated manner has made fundamental
changes about how we understand bacterial physiology. In this framework,
a population, once it exceeds a certain threshold in size, and in the
appropriate environmental conditions, coordinates expression of genes
across individual members of the population in a fashion so that all individual members are in sync. This ability allows the population to accomplish
tasks (like searching for nutrients in the surrounding environment)
that would be difficult to perform, if undertaken by a single cell. In this
context, quorum sensing is a homogenizing force in a population. However,
in recent years, a number of studies have reported that quorum
sensing can also lead to a heterogeneous response in terms of gene
expression across the population. A discussion of the strategies which
explain this heterogeneity in the population at a single-cell resolution is
the focus of this review.