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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Otti CrozeORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
© 2018 authors. Published by the American Physical Society. Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.The exchange of diffusive metabolites is known to control the spatial patterns formed by microbial populations, as revealed by recent studies in the laboratory. However, the matrices used, such as agarose pads, lack the structured geometry of many natural microbial habitats, including in the soil or on the surfaces of plants or animals. Here we address the important question of how such geometry may control diffusive exchanges and microbial interaction. We model mathematically mutualistic interactions within a minimal unit of structure: two growing reservoirs linked by a diffusive channel through which metabolites are exchanged. The model is applied to study a synthetic mutualism, experimentally parametrized on a model algal-bacterial co-culture. Analytical and numerical solutions of the model predict conditions for the successful establishment of remote mutualisms, and how this depends, often counterintuitively, on diffusion geometry. We connect our findings to understanding complex behavior in synthetic and naturally occurring microbial communities.
Author(s): Peaudecerf FJ, Bunbury F, Bhardwaj V, Bees MA, Smith AG, Goldstein RE, Croze OA
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Physical Review E
Year: 2018
Volume: 97
Issue: 2
Print publication date: 01/02/2018
Online publication date: 20/02/2018
Acceptance date: 02/04/2016
Date deposited: 29/04/2021
ISSN (print): 2470-0045
ISSN (electronic): 2470-0053
Publisher: American Physical Society
URL: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.97.022411
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevE.97.022411
PubMed id: 29548216
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