As engineers work to reduce the risk of Legionella growth in buildings, what strategies can be borrowed from treating illnesses caused by biofilms?
Thanks to genetic analysis tools, we can study bacteria in their natural habitat rather than in the artificial environment of a glass petri dish. What have we learned from this new, voyeuristic approach? We now know that bacteria do not live alone, instead forming complex societies with differentiated work tasks and sophisticated mechanisms to protect their communities from antibiotics and environmental stresses.