Journal
PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
Volume 362, Issue 1483, Pages 1195-1200Publisher
ROYAL SOC
DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2007.2044
Keywords
transcription modulation; microbial communities; small molecules
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We present the argument that the majority of low- molecular- weight organic compounds made and secreted by microbes play roles as cell- signalling molecules in the environment. Of the large number of compounds isolated to date, only a small fraction have been shown to possess useful therapeutic antibiotic activity. However, most microbial metabolites modulate gene transcription at low concentrations, and this is proposed to be the primary effect of the compounds in the maintenance of microbial communities in the environment. Thus, microbial metabolites constitute a large collection of cell- signalling molecules that regulate gene expression in microbial populations and possibly the interactions of these populations with the surrounding organisms.
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