Abstract
Can a conjugative plasmid encoding enhanced biofilm forming abilities for its bacterial host facilitate the persistence of the plasmid in a bacterial population despite conferring diminished growth rate and segregative plasmid loss on its bearers? We construct a mathematical model in a chemostat and in a plug flow environment to answer this question. Explicit conditions for an affirmative answer are derived. Numerical simulations support the conclusion.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 183-204 |
| Number of pages | 22 |
| Journal | Mathematical Biosciences |
| Volume | 193 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Feb 1 2005 |
Keywords
- Bacterial wall growth
- Biofilm
- Chemostat
- Conjugation
- Model
- Plasmid
- Plug flow
- Segregation
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Statistics and Probability
- Modeling and Simulation
- Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology(all)
- Immunology and Microbiology(all)
- Agricultural and Biological Sciences(all)
- Applied Mathematics