In nature, bacteria occur mostly in multi-cellular collectives, rather than as individuals. They are capable of coordinating their behaviour, with some species even being able to move together in swarms. The biological chemistry junior research group at the University of Konstanz investigates the ways in which organisms can manipulate and, above all, inhibit this kind of behaviour. Group leader and principal investigator Dr Thomas Böttcher, his team and doctoral researcher Sina Rütschlin (née Richter) have examined the biosynthesis of one of these swarming inhibitors, finding that its production depends upon specific conditions at the substrate level of the bacterial cell. There is an important evolutionary aspect to this: the working group was able to demonstrate how bacterial cells produce various natural substances using minimum effort. In the future, these findings may well come to play an important role in combating infectious diseases and antibiotic resistance. They have been published in the current online issue of the science journal Cell Chemical Biology.