Studies of Bacterial Cooperative Organization

During the course of evolution, bacteria have developed sophisticated cooperative behavior and intricate communication capabilities [1-3]. Utilizing these capabilities, bacterial colonies develop complex spatio-temporal patterns in response to adverse growth conditions. It is now understood that the study of cooperative self-organization of bacterial colonies is an exciting new multidisciplinary field of research, necessitating the merger of biological information with the physics of non-equilibrium processes and the mathematics of non-linear dynamics. At this stage, several experimental systems have been identified, and preliminary modeling efforts are making significant progress in providing a framework for the understanding of experimental observations [4-12]. This endeavour is not limited to bacteria alone. Studies have been performed of other types of microorganisms as well, such as amoeba [13] and yeast [14]