Analysis of persistence thresholds for a nonlocal PDE--ODE model of bacterial persister cells
Abstract
Within many bacterial colonies, persister cells exist as a subpopulation that is tolerant to antibiotics and other stressors, yet not genetically distinct from the rest of the colony. A recent study has proposed epigenetic inheritance as a mechanism that leads to the presence of persister cells. We analyze a nonlocal PDE--ODE model introduced in that study to describe the epigenetic inheritance process and establish its mathematical well-posedness, including existence, uniqueness, and nonnegativity of solutions. We identify a sharp parameter threshold delineating extinction from persistence of the colony: below this threshold the washout equilibrium is globally asymptotically stable, while above it a unique positive equilibrium exists and the population is weakly persistent. Notably, this threshold is independent of the internal community structure.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2604.18809,
title = {Analysis of persistence thresholds for a nonlocal PDE--ODE model of bacterial persister cells},
author = {Chongming Li and Tyler Meadows and Troy Day},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2604.18809},
year = {2026}
}