This tutorial describes how bacteria communicate by a process known as quorum sensing, as shown through a series of experiments involving genetically engineered bioluminescent bacteria.

Vibrio harveyi is a marine bacteria that emits light, a property known as bioluminescence, only at high population density. This type of bioluminescence is controlled by a signaling system among bacteria called quorum sensing. The Click & Learn describes the results of three experiments that reveal how the quorum sensing system works.