Skip to main content
bioRxiv
  • Home
  • About
  • Submit
  • ALERTS / RSS
Advanced Search
New Results

Evolutionary dynamics of phage resistance in bacterial biofilms

Matthew Simmons, Matthew C. Bond, View ORCID ProfileKnut Drescher, View ORCID ProfileVanni Bucci, View ORCID ProfileCarey D. Nadell
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/552265
Matthew Simmons
1Department of Bioengineering, Program in Biotechnology and Biomedical Engineering, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, N. Dartmouth, MA 02747, USA
2Department of Biological Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Matthew C. Bond
2Department of Biological Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Knut Drescher
3Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, D-35043 Marburg, Germany
4Department of Physics, Philipps-Universität Marburg, D-35032 Marburg, Germany
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Knut Drescher
Vanni Bucci
1Department of Bioengineering, Program in Biotechnology and Biomedical Engineering, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, N. Dartmouth, MA 02747, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Vanni Bucci
  • For correspondence: carey.d.nadell@dartmouth.edu vanni.bucci@umassd.edu
Carey D. Nadell
2Department of Biological Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Carey D. Nadell
  • For correspondence: carey.d.nadell@dartmouth.edu vanni.bucci@umassd.edu
  • Abstract
  • Full Text
  • Info/History
  • Metrics
  • Supplementary material
  • Preview PDF
Loading

Abstract

Interactions among bacteria and their viral predators, the bacteriophages, are likely among the most common ecological phenomena on Earth. The constant threat of phage infection to bacterial hosts, and the imperative of achieving infection on the part of phages, drives an evolutionary contest in which phage-resistant bacteria emerge, often followed by phages with new routes of infection. This process has received abundant theoretical and experimental attention for decades and forms an important basis for molecular genetics and theoretical ecology and evolution. However, at present, we know very little about the nature of phage-bacteria interaction – and the evolution of phage resistance – inside the surface-bound communities that microbes usually occupy in natural environments. These communities, termed biofilms, are encased in a matrix of secreted polymers produced by their microbial residents. Biofilms are spatially constrained such that interactions become limited to neighbors or near-neighbors; diffusion of solutes and particulates is reduced; and there is pronounced heterogeneity in nutrient access and therefore physiological state. These factors can dramatically impact the way phage infections proceed even in simple, single-strain biofilms, but we still know little of their effect on phage resistance evolutionary dynamics. Here we explore this problem using a computational simulation framework customized for implementing phage infection inside multi-strain biofilms. Our simulations predict that it is far easier for phage-susceptible and phage-resistant bacteria to coexist inside biofilms relative to planktonic culture, where phages and hosts are well-mixed. We characterize the negative frequency dependent selection that underlies this coexistence, and we then test and confirm this prediction using an experimental model of biofilm growth measured with confocal microscopy at single-cell and single-phage resolution.

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission.
Back to top
PreviousNext
Posted February 17, 2019.
Download PDF

Supplementary Material

Email

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word about bioRxiv.

NOTE: Your email address is requested solely to identify you as the sender of this article.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Evolutionary dynamics of phage resistance in bacterial biofilms
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from bioRxiv
(Your Name) thought you would like to see this page from the bioRxiv website.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Share
Evolutionary dynamics of phage resistance in bacterial biofilms
Matthew Simmons, Matthew C. Bond, Knut Drescher, Vanni Bucci, Carey D. Nadell
bioRxiv 552265; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/552265
Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo LinkedIn logo Mendeley logo
Citation Tools
Evolutionary dynamics of phage resistance in bacterial biofilms
Matthew Simmons, Matthew C. Bond, Knut Drescher, Vanni Bucci, Carey D. Nadell
bioRxiv 552265; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/552265

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Subject Area

  • Microbiology
Subject Areas
All Articles
  • Animal Behavior and Cognition (4685)
  • Biochemistry (10362)
  • Bioengineering (7683)
  • Bioinformatics (26344)
  • Biophysics (13536)
  • Cancer Biology (10698)
  • Cell Biology (15446)
  • Clinical Trials (138)
  • Developmental Biology (8502)
  • Ecology (12825)
  • Epidemiology (2067)
  • Evolutionary Biology (16868)
  • Genetics (11403)
  • Genomics (15485)
  • Immunology (10625)
  • Microbiology (25226)
  • Molecular Biology (10225)
  • Neuroscience (54490)
  • Paleontology (402)
  • Pathology (1669)
  • Pharmacology and Toxicology (2898)
  • Physiology (4345)
  • Plant Biology (9256)
  • Scientific Communication and Education (1587)
  • Synthetic Biology (2558)
  • Systems Biology (6781)
  • Zoology (1467)