EDITORIAL
In this issue of the Journal of Bacteriology we have special sections dedicated to the 6th ASM Conference on Cell-Cell Communication in Bacteria, which was held from 16 to 19 October 2017 in Athens, GA. The meeting was cochaired by Beth Lazazzera and Eric Stabb. The special sections dedicated to the meeting include four research articles, a minireview, and a meeting overview. We also have a really terrific cover image. The topics covered by the meeting, as reflected in the articles in this issue, span the large number of strategies that bacteria use to communicate, including soluble signals such quorum sensing molecules and pheromones, as well as contact-dependent means of interacting. As studies of polymicrobial communities have begun to explode, our need to understand how microbes communicate in such communities also becomes more important. The meeting papers in this issue reflect some of our increased understanding in such mechanisms of communication.
The views expressed in this Editorial do not necessarily reflect the views of the journal or of ASM.