Figure 7
From: Cell-cell communication enhances bacterial chemotaxis toward external attractants
Model of chemotaxis and communication signaling in E. coli. The red arrow represents the well-understood chemotaxis signaling pathway. The attractant gradients are first sensed by chemoreceptor and further transduced via a set of cytoplasmic signaling proteins to the flagella motor. The blue arrow stands for the hypothesized communication signal transduction pathway, by which bacterial cells actively secrete a signaling molecule into surrounding medium when sensing the steep gradient of their preferred metabolic substrates.
