ArticleNature communications2026
Single-cell phenotypic heterogeneity shapes quorum signaling dynamics in Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
Article in Nature communications, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Beyond Resistance Genes:Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Single-phage profiling illuminates viral individuality during bacterial cell fate determination.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Single-phage profiling illuminates viral individuality during cell fate determination.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Quorum sensing (QS) coordinates collective bacterial behavior, yet how individuality arises within a system built to unify action remains unclear. Using imaging-transcriptomics, we profile the QS response of Pseudomonas aeruginosa at single-cell resolution and uncover heterogeneity across all stages of QS. We find that most cells cooperate, but their contributions vary widely due to transcriptional noise. In contrast, expression of QS signal synthases, particularly in the Las and PQS systems, shows extreme cell-cell variability indicative of active differentiation. We show that cellular memory from prior growth cycles shapes QS dynamics by generating signaling-primed cells, yet it does not influence the de novo formation of hypersignaling cells. This differentiation is robust to exogenous autoinducers and conserved across diverse lab and clinical isolates. Together, our findings reveal a deliberately heterogeneous entry point embedded within an otherwise synchronizing program, shedding light on how individuality shapes cooperation and conflict in bacterial populations.
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Registered trials
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