FIGURE 1.

Microorganismic multispecies communities form secondary metabolites that contribute to the stabilization/changes in these companionships. In nature, microorganisms process signals from both abiotic and biotic environments. The latter represent secondary metabolites or natural products whose formation is often suppressed in pure cultures under standard conditions in the laboratory. Microbial mixed cultivation is therefore a suitable means to exploit their potential for natural product discovery and to study the molecular concepts behind the regulatory interactions.