Our lab explores the genetic and evolutionary mechanisms and social dynamics of bacterial cooperation, specifically focusing on quorum sensing (QS) and the production of shared public goods. Evolutionary theory suggests that individuals performing costly cooperative acts are vulnerable to "cheats," which are mutants that reap collective benefits without contributing to their production. Understanding these sociobiological interactions offers potential avenues for medical interventions, such as using non-virulent cheats to disrupt infections.
 
Clinical isolates from chronic wounds reveal strain-specific, alkyl-quinolone-independent competition in Pseudomonas aeruginosa-Staphylococcus aureus biofilms.
Roberts B, da Silva AC, Sloan T, Penfold CN, Williams P, Diggle SP, Hardie KR.​

Exploiting cooperative pathogen behaviour for enhanced antibiotic potency: A Trojan horse approach. 
​Mutlu A, Vanderpool EJ, Rumbaugh KP, Diggle SP, Griffin AS.

Microbial Primer: LuxR-LuxI Quorum Sensing.
Soto-Aceves MP, Diggle SP, Greenberg EP.

Frequency of quorum-sensing mutations in Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains isolated from different environments.
O'Connor K, Zhao CY, Mei M, Diggle SP.

Bacterial Quorum Sensing During Infection.
Azimi S, Klementiev AD, Whiteley M, Diggle SP.

Combinatorial quorum sensing in Pseudomonas aeruginosa allows for novel cheating strategies.
Gurney J, Azimi S, Brown SP, Diggle SP.

Allelic polymorphism shapes community function in evolving Pseudomonas aeruginosa populations.
Azimi S, Roberts AEL, Peng S, Weitz JS, McNally A, Brown SP, Diggle SP.

Progress in and promise of bacterial quorum sensing research.
Whiteley M, Diggle SP, Greenberg EP.

Detection of 2-Alkyl-4-Quinolones Using Biosensors.
Fletcher MP, Diggle SP, Cámara M, Williams P.

The Fitness of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Quorum Sensing Signal Cheats Is Influenced by the Diffusivity of the Environment.
Mund A, Diggle SP, Harrison F.

The Pseudomonas aeruginosa PSL Polysaccharide Is a Social but Noncheatable Trait in Biofilms.
Irie Y, Roberts AEL, Kragh KN, Gordon VD, Hutchison J, Allen RJ, Melaugh G, Bjarnsholt T, West SA, Diggle SP.

Environmental modification via a quorum sensing molecule influences the social landscape of siderophore production.
Popat R, Harrison F, da Silva AC, Easton SA, McNally L, Williams P, Diggle SP.

Optimised chronic infection models demonstrate that siderophore 'cheating' in Pseudomonas aeruginosa is context specific.
Harrison F, McNally A, da Silva AC, Heeb S, Diggle SP.

Bacterial cell-to-cell signaling promotes the evolution of resistance to parasitic bacteriophages.
Moreau P, Diggle SP, Friman VP.

The fitness burden imposed by synthesising quorum sensing signals.
Ruparell A, Dubern JF, Ortori CA, Harrison F, Halliday NM, Emtage A, Ashawesh MM, Laughton CA, Diggle SP, Williams P, Barrett DA, Hardie KR.

Conflict of interest and signal interference lead to the breakdown of honest signaling.
Popat R, Pollitt EJ, Harrison F, Naghra H, Hong KW, Chan KG, Griffin AS, Williams P, Brown SP, West SA, Diggle SP.

Development of an ex vivo porcine lung model for studying growth, virulence, and signaling of Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
Harrison F, Muruli A, Higgins S, Diggle SP.

Combinatorial communication in bacteria: implications for the origins of linguistic generativity.
Scott-Phillips TC, Gurney J, Ivens A, Diggle SP, Popat R.

Targeting virulence: can we make evolution-proof drugs?
Allen RC, Popat R, Diggle SP, Brown SP.

Combinatorial quorum sensing allows bacteria to resolve their social and physical environment.
Cornforth DM, Popat R, McNally L, Gurney J, Scott-Phillips TC, Ivens A, Diggle SP, Brown SP.

An experimental test of whether cheating is context dependent.
Ghoul M, West SA, Diggle SP, Griffin AS.

Loss of social behaviours in populations of Pseudomonas aeruginosa infecting lungs of patients with cystic fibrosis.
Jiricny N, Molin S, Foster K, Diggle SP, Scanlan PD, Ghoul M, Johansen HK, Santorelli LA, Popat R, West SA, Griffin AS.

Cooperation, quorum sensing, and evolution of virulence in Staphylococcus aureus.
Pollitt EJ, West SA, Crusz SA, Burton-Chellew MN, Diggle SP.

Acyl-homoserine lactone quorum sensing: from evolution to application.
Schuster M, Sexton DJ, Diggle SP, Greenberg EP.​

Quorum sensing and the confusion about diffusion.
West SA, Winzer K, Gardner A, Diggle SP.

Quorum-sensing and cheating in bacterial biofilms.
Popat R, Crusz SA, Messina M, Williams P, West SA, Diggle SP.

Kin selection, quorum sensing and virulence in pathogenic bacteria.
Rumbaugh KP, Trivedi U, Watters C, Burton-Chellew MN, Diggle SP, West SA.

Density-dependent fitness benefits in quorum-sensing bacterial populations.
Darch SE, West SA, Winzer K, Diggle SP.

Rules of engagement: defining bacterial communication.
Stacy AR, Diggle SP, Whiteley M.

Cooperation and cheating in Pseudomonas aeruginosa: the roles of the las, rhl and pqs quorum-sensing systems.
Wilder CN, Diggle SP, Schuster M.

Characterisation of two quorum sensing systems in the endophytic Serratia plymuthica strain G3: differential control of motility and biofilm formation according to life-style.
Liu X, Jia J, Popat R, Ortori CA, Li J, Diggle SP, Gao K, Cámara M.

Detection of 2-alkyl-4-quinolones using biosensors.
Diggle SP, Fletcher MP, Cámara M, Williams P.

Microbial communication and virulence: lessons from evolutionary theory.
Diggle SP.

Quinolones: from antibiotics to autoinducers.
Heeb S, Fletcher MP, Chhabra SR, Diggle SP, Williams P, Cámara M.

Fitness correlates with the extent of cheating in a bacterium.
Jiricny N, Diggle SP, West SA, Evans BA, Ballantyne G, Ross-Gillespie A, Griffin AS.

Social evolution in micro-organisms and a Trojan horse approach to medical intervention strategies.
Brown SP, West SA, Diggle SP, Griffin AS.

Quorum sensing and the social evolution of bacterial virulence.
Rumbaugh KP, Diggle SP, Watters CM, Ross-Gillespie A, Griffin AS, West SA.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa quorum-sensing signal molecules interfere with dendritic cell-induced T-cell proliferation.
Skindersoe ME, Zeuthen LH, Brix S, Fink LN, Lazenby J, Whittall C, Williams P, Diggle SP, Froekiaer H, Cooley M, Givskov M.

Quorum sensing by 2-alkyl-4-quinolones in Pseudomonas aeruginosa and other bacterial species.
Dubern JF, Diggle SP.

Cell-cell communication in bacteria: united we stand.
von Bodman SB, Willey JM, Diggle SP.

Quorum quenching activity in Anabaena sp. PCC 7120: identification of AiiC, a novel AHL-acylase.
Romero M, Diggle SP, Heeb S, Cámara M, Otero A.

Cooperation and conflict in quorum-sensing bacterial populations.
Diggle SP, Griffin AS, Campbell GS, West SA.

Quorum sensing.
Diggle SP, Crusz SA, Cámara M.

A dual biosensor for 2-alkyl-4-quinolone quorum-sensing signal molecules.
Fletcher MP, Diggle SP, Crusz SA, Chhabra SR, Cámara M, Williams P.

Biosensor-based assays for PQS, HHQ and related 2-alkyl-4-quinolone quorum sensing signal molecules.
Fletcher MP, Diggle SP, Cámara M, Williams P.

Evolutionary theory of bacterial quorum sensing: when is a signal not a signal?
Diggle SP, Gardner A, West SA, Griffin AS.

The Pseudomonas aeruginosa 4-quinolone signal molecules HHQ and PQS play multifunctional roles in quorum sensing and iron entrapment.
Diggle SP, Matthijs S, Wright VJ, Fletcher MP, Chhabra SR, Lamont IL, Kong X, Hider RC, Cornelis P, Cámara M, Williams P.

Quorum sensing regulates dpsA and the oxidative stress response in Burkholderia pseudomallei.
Lumjiaktase P, Diggle SP, Loprasert S, Tungpradabkul S, Daykin M, Cámara M, Williams P, Kunakorn M.

Social evolution theory for microorganisms.
West SA, Griffin AS, Gardner A, Diggle SP.
 
Functional genetic analysis reveals a 2-Alkyl-4-quinolone signaling system in the human pathogen Burkholderia pseudomallei and related bacteria.
Diggle SP, Lumjiaktase P, Dipilato F, Winzer K, Kunakorn M, Barrett DA, Chhabra SR, Cámara M, Williams P.

Quorum quenching by an N-acyl-homoserine lactone acylase from Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1.
Sio CF, Otten LG, Cool RH, Diggle SP, Braun PG, Bos R, Daykin M, Cámara M, Williams P, Quax WJ.

4-quinolone signalling in Pseudomonas aeruginosa: old molecules, new perspectives.
Diggle SP, Cornelis P, Williams P, Cámara M.

The MexGHI-OpmD multidrug efflux pump controls growth, antibiotic susceptibility and virulence in Pseudomonas aeruginosa via 4-quinolone-dependent cell-to-cell communication.
Aendekerk S, Diggle SP, Song Z, Høiby N, Cornelis P, Williams P, Cámara M.

The Pseudomonas aeruginosa quinolone signal molecule overcomes the cell density-dependency of the quorum sensing hierarchy, regulates rhl-dependent genes at the onset of stationary phase and can be produced in the absence of LasR.
Diggle SP, Winzer K, Chhabra SR, Worrall KE, Cámara M, Williams P.

Advancing the quorum in Pseudomonas aeruginosa: MvaT and the regulation of N-acylhomoserine lactone production and virulence gene expression.
Diggle SP, Winzer K, Lazdunski A, Williams P, Cámara M.

The Pseudomonas aeruginosa lectins PA-IL and PA-IIL are controlled by quorum sensing and by RpoS.
Winzer K, Falconer C, Garber NC, Diggle SP, Camara M, Williams P.