Moduliranje medceličnega komuniciranja mikroorganizmov zaradi dejavnikov okolja (Slovene)

Microbial communication is rapidly expanding field in microbiology in last few years. It plays an important role in medicine, veterinary medicine, biotechnology and ecology. The project results enable understanding of the communication relations between microorganisms that are important for intraspecies and interspecies communication. The establishment of new methods for discovering communication mechanisms in well-defined microbial populations enables us discovering communication mechanisms among eukaryotic and prokaryotic organisms. In spite of the fact that environmental factors determine the main parameters of microbial viability, the influence of environmental factors on microbial communication is in general not well established. All our results obtained in this project are thus new and interesting. Environmental physico-chemical parameters positively or negatively regulate communication. The results of the project are crucial for understanding the communication relations in the pure microbial cultures as well as in complex microbial communities in the environment. This information contributes to a better understanding and control of many microbial processes in biotechnology. The knowledge about the influence of environmental parameters on communication and microbial survival has further importance in the pathogen control as for example by Campylobacter jejuni, which is important in terms of medicine and food industry.

Different model microorganisms and different methodologies for studying microbial communication facilitate the exchange of knowledge between researchers within the project group and give us a different perspective on the mechanism and behaviour of the microbial population. The project results also broader our knowledge about microbial communication and promote our project group in the attractive research field of intercellular communication by presenting the results at international meetings. An important benefit is also the knowledge transfer to new young and perspective researchers (undergraduate and PhD students).