Molecular signals of multicellularity

在一个给定的生物体中（无论是人类还是任何其他发达的生物体），都有数百万个细胞，但我们对这些细胞如何相互交流知之甚少。这些通信网络对生物体的正常功能至关重要。目前，我们知道在许多情况下，细胞与细胞之间的相互作用是由充当信使的小化学分子介导的。找到这些信使是非常困难的，没有它们，我们就不能完全理解单个细胞如何协调它们的功能，成为一个多细胞有机体。

In a given organism (be it human or any other developed organism) there are millions and millions of cells, but we know very little about how these cells communicate with each other. These communication networks are critical important to the normal function of an organism. At present, we know in many cases cell-to-cell interactions are mediated by small chemical molecules that act as messengers. Finding these messengers is very difficult, and without them we can not fully appreciate how the individual cells can coordinate their functions to become a multicellular organism.