title: Bacterial Ventures into Multicellularity: Collectivism through Individuality.
abstract: Multicellular eukaryotes can perform functions that exceed the possibilities of an individual cell. These functions emerge through interactions between differentiated cells that are precisely arranged in space. Bacteria also form multicellular collectives that consist of differentiated but genetically identical cells. How does the functionality of these collectives depend on the spatial arrangement of the differentiated bacteria? In a previous issue of PLOS Biology, van Gestel and colleagues reported an elegant example of how the spatial arrangement of differentiated cells gives rise to collective behavior in Bacillus subtilus colonies, further demonstrating the similarity of bacterial collectives to higher multicellular organisms.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biogeochemistry and Pollutant Dynamics, Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; Department of Environmental Microbiology, Eawag, Dübendorf, Switzerland; Life Science Zurich Graduate School, PhD program in Systems Biology, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: van Vliet
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biogeochemistry and Pollutant Dynamics, Department of Environmental Systems Science, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland; Department of Environmental Microbiology, Eawag, Dübendorf, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ackermann
mesh_terms: D001412:Bacillus subtilis / Q000502:physiology; D056265:Microbial Interactions; D010641:Phenotype