Related papers: Phage-antibiotic synergy inhibited by temperate an…
Phage therapy is an alternative treatment method for bacterial infections. It has shown particular promise in reducing bacterial load while preventing antibiotic resistance. Here, we develop a mathematical model of a bacterial infection…
Bacteriophages are viruses infecting bacteria and archaea. Many phage species cause infections which lead to the certain death of the infected prokaryotic host cell and the release of a large batch of phage progeny, yet they have been able…
When planktonic bacteria adhere together to a surface, they begin to form biofilms, or communities of bacteria. Biofilm formation in a host can be extremely problematic if left untreated, especially since antibiotics can be ineffective in…
Bacterial resistance to antibiotic treatment is a huge concern: introduction of any new antibiotic is shortly followed by the emergence of resistant bacterial isolates in the clinic. This issue is compounded by a severe lack of new…
Bacteria and their viruses ("bacteriophages") coexist in natural environments forming complex infection networks. Recent empirical findings suggest that phage-bacteria infection networks often possess a nested structure such that there is a…
Phages use bacterial host resources to replicate, intrinsically linking phage and host survival. To understand phage dynamics, it is essential to understand phage-host ecology. A key step in this ecology is infection of bacterial hosts.…
As antibiotic resistance continues to pose a significant threat to public health, alternative treatments are urgently needed. Phage therapy, which utilizes bacteriophages to specifically target bacterial pathogens, has emerged as a…
Humans, domestic animals, orchard crops, and ornamental plants are commonly treated with antibiotics in response to bacterial infection. By curing infectious individuals, antibiotic therapy might limit the spread of contagious disease among…
Apparent competition between species is believed to be one of the principle driving forces that structure ecological communities, although the precise mecha nisms have yet to be characterized. Here we develop a model system that isolates…
Humans, domestic animals, orchard crops, and ornamental plants are commonly treated with antibiotics in response to bacterial infection. By curing infectious individuals, antibiotic therapy might limit the spread of contagious disease among…
Bacteria develop resistance to antibiotics through various mechanisms, with the specific mechanism depending on the drug-bacteria pair. It remains unclear, however, which resistance mechanism best supports favorable treatment outcomes,…
The term bacteriophage means killer or eater of bacteria. They were initially discovered by F.W. Twort and later on, Felix d'Herelle unveiled them to the world in 1910. Phage therapy has arisen as a favorable option to conventional…
Antibiotic resistance is a topical problem for both humans and animals and has been the subject of special monitoring for two decades. Several recent studies, including ours, have shown that this phenomenon is accentuated by the transfer of…
Antibiotic resistance presents a growing global health threat by diminishing the effectiveness of treatments and allowing once-manageable bacterial infections to persist. This study develops and analyzes an optimization-based mathematical…
Some microbial organisms are known to randomly slip into and out of hibernation, irrespective of environmental conditions [1]. In a (genetically) uniform population a typically very small subpopulation becomes metabolically inactive whereas…
Antimicrobial protocols - using substances such as antibiotics or disinfectants - remain the preferred option for preventing the spread of pathogenic bacteria. However, bacteria can develop mechanisms to reduce their antimicrobial…
Antibodies play an essential role in the immune response to viral infections, vaccination, or antibody therapy. Nevertheless, they can be either protective or harmful during the immune response. Moreover, competition or cooperation between…
The canonical bacteriophage is obligately lytic: the virus infects a bacterium and hijacks cell functions to produce large numbers of new viruses which burst from the cell. These viruses are well-studied, but there exist a wide range of…
It has long been known that antibiotic treatment will not completely kill off a bacteria population. For many species a small fraction of bacteria is not sensitive to antibiotics. These bacteria are said to persist. Recently it has been…
By integrating various simulation and experimental techniques, we discovered that antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) may achieve synergy at an optimal concentration and ratio, which can be caused by aggregation of the synergistic peptides. On…