Insights into how bacteria "talk" to each other could help scientists halt their growing resistance to antibiotics.
A new study has revealed that bacteria use a form of communication similar to human language, but employing chemical signals instead of words.
This language enables bacteria to thrive and researchers hope that by interpreting it they can develop new drugs to fight infections without bacteria developing a resistance to them.
Scientists say the number of dangerous bacteria becoming resistant to antibiotics is growing, posing a serious threat to human health.
Infections that are currently manageable could become life-threatening without effective drugs.
Researchers at Edinburgh University found that bacteria recognise their physical and social environment by producing and responding to chemical compounds which act as messages.
The team found that bacteria responded differently to a combination of two messages than they did to either by itself.
Until recently, only humans and other primates were known to engage in this form of dialogue, known as combinatorial communication, in which signals can have different meanings depending on their context.
Researchers say that most remedies for infections simply block all talk between bacteria, but these can drastically alter the way they act and aid the survival of resistant strains.
It is thought that more subtle interventions, only blocking specific signals that can harm people, may be equally effective at treating infections without leading to resistance.
Dr Sam Brown, from the university's school of biological sciences, said: "We're only beginning to scratch the surface of the complexity of bacterial social life and its consequences for disease.
"Decoding their language is an important step towards placing our own communication in a broader biological context, as well as opening a new front in the search for mechanisms to control infections. "
The study, a collaboration with Nottingham and Durham universities, has been published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article