来源

群感效应一词来源于生物科学研究中的术语——Quorum-sensing。Some bacteria use quorum sensing to monitor their local population density. They accomplish this by secreting and monitoring small diffusible signaling molecules. These molecules mediate cell-cell communication for the bacteria with the result that certain traits are only expressed when the bacteria are crowded together. The signal molecules accumulate when cells are crowded together and when the concentration reaches a threshold, receptors signal a change in gene expression. 有些细菌自身能产生一些可扩散的信号分子，这些信号分子穿出和进入细胞，并可在环境中积累。随着细菌群体密度的增大，这些信号分子在环境中积累的浓度也增加。细菌通过感受环境中这些信号分子的浓度，能判断其群体的大小，当这些信号分子在环境中积累到一定浓度，其在细菌细胞中的积累也达到临界浓度（高浓度），这时细菌的某些特定基因才得以表达。这种现象称为细菌的quorum-sensing 。

特点

许多种革兰氏阴性细菌利用Quorum-sensing调节其特定基因的表达。高丝氨酸内酯(AHLs)是这种作用的最普遍的信号分子。