AEM
Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Abedon, S. T.
Right arrow Articles by Stopar, D.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Abedon, S. T.
Right arrow Articles by Stopar, D.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Abedon, S. T.
Right arrow Articles by Stopar, D.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, September 2001, p. 4233-4241, Vol. 67, No. 9
0099-2240/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/AEM.67.9.4233-4241.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Bacteriophage Latent-Period Evolution as a Response to Resource Availability

Stephen T. Abedon,1,* Troy D. Herschler,1 and David Stopar2

Department of Microbiology, Ohio State University, Mansfield, Ohio,1 and Department of Food Technology, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia2

Received 23 February 2001/Accepted 18 June 2001

Bacteriophages (phages) modify microbial communities by lysing hosts, transferring genetic material, and effecting lysogenic conversion. To understand how natural communities are affected it is important to develop predictive models. Here we consider how variation between models---in eclipse period, latent period, adsorption constant, burst size, the handling of differences in host quantity and host quality, and in modeling strategy---can affect predictions. First we compare two published models of phage growth, which differ primarily in terms of how they model the kinetics of phage adsorption; one is a computer simulation and the other is an explicit calculation. At higher host quantities (~108 cells/ml), both models closely predict experimentally determined phage population growth rates. At lower host quantities (107 cells/ml), the computer simulation continues to closely predict phage growth rates, but the explicit model does not. Next we concentrate on predictions of latent-period optima. A latent-period optimum is the latent period that maximizes the population growth of a specific phage growing in the presence of a specific quantity and quality of host cells. Both models predict similar latent-period optima at higher host densities (e.g., 17 min at 108 cells/ml). At lower host densities, however, the computer simulation predicts latent-period optima that are much shorter than those suggested by explicit calculations (e.g., 90 versus 1,250 min at 105 cells/ml). Finally, we consider the impact of host quality on phage latent-period evolution. By taking care to differentiate latent-period phenotypic plasticity from latent-period evolution, we argue that the impact of host quality on phage latent-period evolution may be relatively small.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Microbiology, Ohio State University, 1680 University Dr., Mansfield, Ohio, 44906. Phone: (419) 755-4343. Fax: (419) 755-4327. E-mail: abedon.1{at}osu.edu.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, September 2001, p. 4233-4241, Vol. 67, No. 9
0099-2240/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/AEM.67.9.4233-4241.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


This article has been cited by other articles:



Home Help [Feedback] [For Subscribers] [Archive] [Search] [Contents]
J. Bacteriol. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. Eukaryot. Cell All ASM Journals

Copyright © 2001 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.