TY - JOUR

T1 - On Phage Adsorption to Bacterial Chains

AU - Eriksen, Rasmus Skytte

AU - Mitarai, Namiko

AU - Sneppen, Kim

PY - 2020/11/3

Y1 - 2020/11/3

N2 - Bacteria often arrange themselves in various spatial configurations, which changes how they interact with their surroundings. In this work, we investigate how the structure of the bacterial arrangements influences the adsorption of bacteriophages. We quantify how the adsorption rate scales with the number of bacteria in the arrangement and show that the adsorption rates for microcolonies (increasing with exponent similar to 1/3) and bacterial chains (increasing with exponent similar to 0.5-0.8) are substantially lower than for well-mixed bacteria (increasing with exponent 1). We further show that, after infection, the spatially clustered arrangements reduce the effective burst size by more than 50% and cause substantial superinfections in a very short time interval after phage lysis.

AB - Bacteria often arrange themselves in various spatial configurations, which changes how they interact with their surroundings. In this work, we investigate how the structure of the bacterial arrangements influences the adsorption of bacteriophages. We quantify how the adsorption rate scales with the number of bacteria in the arrangement and show that the adsorption rates for microcolonies (increasing with exponent similar to 1/3) and bacterial chains (increasing with exponent similar to 0.5-0.8) are substantially lower than for well-mixed bacteria (increasing with exponent 1). We further show that, after infection, the spatially clustered arrangements reduce the effective burst size by more than 50% and cause substantial superinfections in a very short time interval after phage lysis.

U2 - 10.1016/j.bpj.2020.09.027

DO - 10.1016/j.bpj.2020.09.027

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 33069271

VL - 119

SP - 1896

EP - 1904

JO - Biophysical Journal

JF - Biophysical Journal

SN - 0006-3495

IS - 9

ER -