Bacteriophage specificity is impacted by interactions between bacteria.

ABSTRACT: Predators play a central role in shaping community structure, function, and stability. The degree to which bacteriophage predators (viruses that infect bacteria) evolve to be specialists with a single bacterial prey species versus generalists able to consume multiple types of prey has implications for their effect on microbial communities. The presence and abundance of multiple bacterial prey types can alter selection for phage generalists, but less is known about how interactions between prey shape predator specificity in microbial systems. Using a phenomenological mathematical model of phage and bacterial populations, we find that the dominant phage strategy depends on prey ecology. Given a fitness cost for generalism, generalist predators maintain an advantage when prey species compete,

SUBMITTER: Bisesi AT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11237722 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature