The present work is aimed at performing two main functions. First, it is a brief guidebook on population structures and intercellular communication in microbial populations. This guidebook is mainly intended for students (bachelors and especially masters) majoring in immunology. Therefore, special attention will be paid to intercellular interactions implicated in the operation of the immune system. It is assumed that the students have already acquired sufficient knowledge concerning the mechanisms of immune responses. Even though much time will be spent on chiefly microbiological issues such as interactions among microbial cells, these issues will also be considered from the immunological viewpoint, taking into account, for instance, the response of the immune system to microbial antigens. The emphasis placed in these lectures on immunology does not imply that the lectures will be of no relevance to academic audience with a different background. It is hoped that microbiologists, neurophysiologists, ecologists, and even psychologists will also find this brief course of lectures sufficiently useful. Second, the present book is to be considered a monograph that deals with the history and the present-day state-of-the-art of a subfield of microbiology referred to as the population organization- and communication-centered paradigm (POCCP). In this capacity, this work is focused on the main trends in research areas dealing with microbial social behavior, supracellular structures formed by microorganisms, and the communication mechanisms employed, with special emphasis on their ongoing interaction with multicellular forms of life including, importantly, the human organism

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