The Great Bacterial Reef: Communication and development in human oral bacterial biofilms

Abstract

Consider that The Great Barrier Reef is home to thousands of species of plants and animals with spatiotemporally predictable fish communities on coral reefs, and compare this with the fact that human oral bacteria develop spatiotemporally predictable dental plaque communities on enamel after each oral hygiene procedure. This reassembling of oral bacterial communities over a time interval of only a few hours offers an opportunity to investigate the role of communication in community architecture and composition.