Invisible microbial language in cyanobacterial blooms should not be overlooked: The potential impact of quorum sensing for cyanobacteria community

Abstract

Global greenhouse effect and the increase of CO₂ concentration in the atmosphere make harmful cyanobacterial blooms occur frequently. Understanding the inherent laws and influencing factors of cyanobacterial blooms is the key to hinder their development and maturity. Previous studies have focused on limiting the development of cyanobacteria by changing external environmental factors, ignoring the internal factors among microorganisms in the cyanobacteria bloom. Based on the ecological regulation strategies aimed at regulating the life activities of cyanobacteria and the succession of cyanobacterial blooms, we discuss the non-negligible role of quorum sensing in the formation of cyanobacterial blooms. The promo­tion effect of QS on the growth and development and competitive advantage phenotype of pure cyanobacteria was analyzed, and the potential influence of QS as an internal driving force for community succession of cyanobacteria was reasonably speculated. Although there are few studies on the regulation of QS as a control strategy for algal blooms. Here, we provide detailed information on the possible effects of QS on cyanobacteria and on the actual cyanobacterial bloom community, and the importance of QS in the formation of cyanobacterial blooms was emphasized. In addition, the previous studies on cyanobacterial QS are critically analyzed, the puzzling problems in these studies are put forward, and more perfect suggestions for future work are provided.