Biocommunication of Archaea

Archaea
represent a third domain of life with unique properties not found in the
other domains. Archaea actively compete for environmental resources. They
perceive themselves and can distinguish between ‘self’ and ‘non-self’. They
process and evaluate available information and then modify their behaviour
accordingly. They assess their surroundings, estimate how much energy they
need for particular goals, and then realize the optimum variant. These highly
diverse competences show us that this is possible owing to sign(aling)-

mediated communication processes within archaeal cells (intra-organismic),
between the same, related and different archaeal species (interorganismic),
and between archaea and nonarchaeal organisms (transorganismic). This is crucial
in coordinating growth and development, shape and dynamics. Such
communication must function both on the local level and between widely
separated colony parts. This allows archaea to coordinate appropriate
response behaviors in a differentiated manner to their current developmental
status and physiological influences. This book will orientate further
investigations on how archaeal ecosphere inhabitants communicate with each
other to coordinate their behavioral patterns and whats the role of viruses
in this highly dynamic interactional networks.