title: Microbial communication superhighways.
abstract: Exchange of information is critical for bacterial social behaviors. Now Dubey and Ben-Yehuda (2011) provide evidence for bacterial "nanotube" conduits that allow microbes to directly exchange cytoplasmic factors. Protein and DNA transfer between distantly related species raises the prospect of a new, widely distributed mechanism of bacterial communication.
authors.affiliation: Section of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Institute of Cell and Molecular Biology, The University of Texas at Austin, 78712, USA.
authors.forename: Jeffrey W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Schertzer
authors.forename: Marvin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Whiteley