Article
A collective mechanism for phase variation in biofilms.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America - 23 Sept 2008
Chia Nicholas, Woese Carl R, Goldenfeld Nigel
Abstract excerpt
Understanding how microbes gather into biofilm communities and maintain diversity remains one of the central questions of microbiology, requiring an understanding of microbes as communal rather then individual organisms. Phase variation plays an integral role in the formation of diverse phenotypes within biofilms. We propose a collective mechanism for phase variation based on gene transfer agents, and apply the...
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