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Giant number fluctuations in microbial ecologies.

Dipjyoti Das1, Dibyendu Das, Ashok Prasad

  • 1Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Powai, Mumbai 400076, India. dipjyoti@phy.iitb.ac.in

Journal of Theoretical Biology
|June 12, 2012
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Giant number fluctuations (GNF), where population variance grows with the square of the mean, are not limited to microbial mutation. This study shows GNF also arises from bi-directional mutation, bacteriophage lysis-lysogeny, and horizontal gene transfer in microbial populations.

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Area of Science:

  • Microbial Ecology
  • Population Dynamics
  • Theoretical Biology

Background:

  • Statistical fluctuations in microbial population sizes can be substantial.
  • Giant number fluctuations (GNF), characterized by variance proportional to the square of the mean, were previously linked to spontaneous mutation (Luria-Delbrück).

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate if GNF occurs in microbial ecologies beyond spontaneous mutation.
  • To explore GNF in models of bi-directional mutation, bacteriophage lysis-lysogeny, and horizontal gene transfer (HGT).

Main Methods:

  • Analytical investigation of stochastic ecological models.
  • Mathematical analysis of population dynamics under different processes.

Main Results:

  • Bi-directional mutation processes analytically demonstrate GNF at large times.
  • Under quasi-stationary viral populations, bacteriophage lysis-lysogeny exhibits GNF, mirroring one-way mutation.
  • Horizontal gene transfer processes can also exhibit GNF at large times.

Conclusions:

  • GNF is a broader phenomenon in microbial population dynamics than previously understood.
  • Ecological interactions like viral infection and HGT can lead to GNF, similar to mutation.