Environmental structure drives resistance to phages and antibiotics during phage therapy and to invading lysogens during colonisation.

ABSTRACT: Microbial communities are shaped by bacteriophages through predation and lysogeny. A better understanding of the interactions between these processes across different types of environments is key to elucidate how phages mediate microbial competition and to design efficient phage therapies. We introduce an individual-based model (eVIVALDI) to investigate the role of environmental structure in the elimination of a population with a combined treatment of antibiotics and virulent phages, and in the invasion of a population of phage-sensitive bacteria by lysogens. We show that structured environments facilitate the emergence of double resistance, to antibiotics and phages, due to limited diffusion of phage particles and increased nutrient availability from dead cells. They also hinder phage amp

SUBMITTER: Sousa JAM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6395636 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature