TY - JOUR T1 - Gene Network Homology in Prokaryotes Using a Similarity Search Approach: Queries of Quorum Sensing Signal Transduction A1 - Quan, David N. A1 - Bentley, William E. Y1 - 2012/08/16 N2 - Author Summary Bacteria communicate with each other through a network of small molecules that are secreted and perceived by nearest neighbors. In a process known as quorum sensing, bacteria communicate their cell density and certain behaviors emerge wherein the population of cells acts as a coordinated community. One small signaling molecule, AI-2, is synthesized by many bacteria so that in a natural ecosystem comprised of many secreting cells of different species, the molecule may be present in an appreciable concentration. The perception of the signal may be key to unlocking its importance, as some cells may recognize it at lower concentrations than others, etc. We have created a searching algorithm that finds similar gene sets among various bacteria. Here, we looked for signal transduction pathways similar to the one studied in E. coli. We found exact replicas to that of E. coli, but also found pathways with missing genes, added genes of unknown function, as well as different patterns by which the genes may be regulated. We suspect these attributes may play a significant role in determining quorum sensing behaviors. This, in turn, may lead to new discoveries for controlling groups of bacteria and possibly reducing the prevalence of infectious disease. JF - PLOS Computational Biology JA - PLOS Computational Biology VL - 8 IS - 8 UR - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002637 SP - e1002637 EP - PB - Public Library of Science M3 - doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002637 ER -