Persistence in Phage-Bacteria Communities with Nested and One-to-One Infection Networks

TL;DR

This paper proves the persistence and stability of bacteria-phage systems with nested or one-to-one infection networks under certain biological assumptions, advancing understanding of their long-term coexistence.

Contribution

It establishes conditions for permanence and stability in bacteria-phage communities with specific infection network structures, extending prior theoretical results.

Findings

Systems with nested or one-to-one networks are permanent under certain conditions.

Global stability is proven for nested networks.

Global dynamics are characterized for one-to-one networks.

Abstract

We show that a bacteria and bacteriophage system with either a perfectly nested or a one-to-one infection network is permanent, a.k.a uniformly persistent, provided that bacteria that are superior competitors for nutrient devote the least to defence against infection and the virus that are the most efficient at infecting host have the smallest host range. By ensuring that the density-dependent reduction in bacterial growth rates are independent of bacterial strain, we are able to arrive at the permanence conclusion sought by Jover et al (J. Theor. Biol. 332:65-77, 2013). The same permanence results hold for the one-to-one infection network considered by Thingstad (Limnol Oceanogr 45:1320-1328, 2000) but without virus efficiency ordering. Additionally we show the global stability for the nested infection network, and the global dynamics for the one-to-one network.