Bacterial cells communicate with one another by using chemical signal molecules, which they synthesize and secrete into their surroundings. By this means, the behavior of an entire population can be controlled and coordinated. Biophysicists led by Professor Erwin Frey, who holds the Chair of Biological and Statistical Physics at LMU, have now shown theoretically how this can be accomplished even when only a subset of cells actually emits the requisite signals. The new findings appear in the online journal eLife.