Monitoring of cellular activities in multispecies bacterial surface communities

We have developed a number of molecular methods and tools useful in the field of microbial physiology and ecology especially in the analysis of microbial community performance. These methods allow detailed investigations at the single-cell level of bacterial physiological activities, specific gene expression, gene transfer and cell-to-cell communication. Community features such as surface colonization, metabolic interactions, utilization of carbon and energy sources, bacterial motility, microcolony structure and activity, have been analysed in various types of surface bound bacterial communities of different complexities. The major and highly significant conclusion from these studies is that bacteria living attached to surfaces the dominant form of bacterial life in nature organize themselves in heterogenous consortia, in which organisms, activities and structural features are distributed in compartments. It is possible that part of this complexity is controlled by chemical communication between the community members.