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Updated: May 14, 2025

Author Spotlight: Investigating Bacteriophage-Induced Immune Responses in Gnotobiotic Mice
Published on: January 26, 2024
Self-Organized Coexistence of Phage and a Population of Host Colonies
Anjali Yadav1, Namiko Mitarai1, Kim Sneppen1
1Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Jagtvej 155, 2200 Copenhagen N, Denmark.
Abstract:
Phages and bacteria coexist under widely different conditions, ranging from liquid cultures to oceans, soil, and the human gut. However, our models are typically limited to well-mixed liquid cultures governed by mass-action kinetics. Here, we suggest a modification to the Lotka-Volterra dynamics by including the formation of microcolonies. By analyzing the model in an open system with a steady influx of bacteria, we predict that the colony size distribution is power-low distributed with steeper exponents for the stronger external influx. In the realistic case where the phage attack rate to individual colonies is proportional to their radius, we obtain self-organization to a steady state where the maximal colony size is smaller for stronger external driving.
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