Question: How can the bacteria communicate with one another?

Paul Waines answered on 20 Jun 2013:

Hi sachin- thanks for the question. bacteria have a few ways of communicating. The main way they have is by using chemical signals called AHLs. This can be important because it means that they can change their behaviour to suit their environment- this is sometimes bad news for patients.
Another way that they can communicate is by direct contact using ‘nanowires’. These can be many times longer than the bacteria themselves, and they enable them to communicate using electric currents. Again they use these signals to change their behaviour. Pretty clever…