Stability Analysis of Population Dynamics Model in Microbial Biofilms with Non-participating Strains

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the stability of microbial biofilm population dynamics with non-participating strains using control theory, revealing conditions for dominance, coexistence, and the impact of spatial patterns on biofilm control strategies.

Contribution

It provides a mathematical stability analysis of biofilm population models considering social interactions and spatial patterns, which was previously underexplored.

Findings

Full dominance of cooperators is globally stable without spatial patterns.

Spatial patterns lead to bistability and coexistence in biofilm populations.

Control strategies can be designed based on the degree of assortment.

Abstract

The existence of phenotypic heterogeneity in single-species bacterial biofilms is well-established in the published literature. However, the modeling of population dynamics in biofilms from the viewpoint of social interactions, i.e. interplay between heterotypic strains, and the analysis of this kind using control theory are not addressed significantly. Therefore, in this paper, we theoretically analyze the population dynamics model in microbial biofilms with non-participating strains (coexisting with public goods producers and non-producers) in the context of evolutionary game theory and nonlinear dynamics. Our analysis of the replicator dynamics model is twofold: first without the inclusion of spatial pattern, and second with the consideration of degree of assortment. In the first case, Lyapunov stability analysis of the stable equilibrium point of the proposed replicator system determines (1,0) ('full dominance of cooperators') as a global asymptotic stable equilibrium whenever the return exceeds the metabolic cost of cooperation. Hence, the global asymptotic stable nature of (1,0) in the context of non-consideration of spatial pattern helps to justify mathematically the adversity in the eradication of "cooperative enterprise" that is an infectious biofilm. In the second case, we found non-existence of global asymptotic stability in the system, and it unveils two additional phenomena - bistability and coexistence. In this context, two inequality conditions are derived for the 'full dominance of cooperators' and coexistence. Therefore, the inclusion of spatial pattern in biofilms with non-competing strains intends conditional dominance of pathogenic (with respect to the hosts) public goods producers which can be an effective strategy towards the control of an infectious biofilm with the drug-dependent regulation of degree of segregation.