Hi there, you might want to try looking up quorum-sensing, bacterial
autoinducers, bacterial pheromones, or myxobacteria to start. There are many
signals used by microbes both pro-and eukaryotic. Bacteria can use a number of
both peptide and non-peptide molecules which you will discover if you research
the clues I gave above. A number of eukaryotes use peptides and cyclic
nucleotides to start you off. Look up dictyostelium discoideum or slime molds
to start. If you use any of the key words I mentioned (which by no means are
an exhaustive list) you should have some success. Try looking for review
articles first to orient yourself and as a source of references and key words
to follow. Good luck
Lou
Lou Passador
Dept. of Microbiology and Immunology
Univ. of Rochester
Rochester NY.
