Flagellum Mediates Symbiosis

摘要

Prokaryotes perform a wide variety of cooperative behaviors (1); for example, the anaerobic bio-degradation of organic matter is achieved by cooperative catabo-lism of diverse bacteria and archaea (2). With only a few exceptions [e.g., quorum sensing (1)], however, little is known of molecular mechanisms underlying these complex interactions. We have investigated syntro-phy (symbioses based on nutritional cooperation) between fermentative bacteria (syntrophs) and methanogenic archaea (meth-anogens) that leads to the conversion of volatile fatty acids to methane in anaerobic environments (2).