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Updated: May 27, 2026

Time-lapse Imaging of Bacterial Swarms and the Collective Stress Response
Published on: May 23, 2020
Cross-strain quorum sensing inhibition by Staphylococcus aureus. Part 2: A spatially inhomogeneous model
Sara Jabbari1, John R King, Paul Williams
1Centre for Biomolecular Sciences, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK. sara.jabbari@nottingham.ac.uk
Abstract:
Staphylococcus aureus uses quorum sensing (QS) to enhance its pathogenicity. An intriguing aspect of this is that different strains are capable of inactivating the QS systems of opposing strains. In Part 1 of this study, we presented a model of this phenomenon in a well-mixed environment; here, we incorporate spatial structure. Two competitive strains occupying adjacent habitats with freely diffusing QS signal molecules (QSSMs) are considered. We investigate the effect of the QSSM diffusion coefficient and the relative size of the two populations on the ability of one population to dominate the other. Regarding population size, a larger population is generally at an advantage (initial conditions permitting), while the implications of different diffusivities are more complex and depend upon the sizes of the populations.
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