Melioidosis, a serious illness caused by Burkholderia pseudomallei, results in up to 40% fatality in infected patients. The pathogen is found in tropical water and soil. Recent findings demonstrated that bacterial numbers can be regulated by a novel clade of phages that are abundant in soil and water. These phages differentially infect their bacterial hosts causing lysis at high temperatures and lysogeny at lower temperatures. Thus seasonal and daily temperature variations would cause switches in phage-bacteria interactions. We developed mathematical models using realistic parameters to explore the impact of phages on B. pseudomallei populations in the surface water of rice fields over time and under seasonally changing environmental conditions. Historical records were used to provide UV radiation levels and temperature for two Thailand provinces. The models predict seasonal variation of phage-free bacterial numbers correlates with the higher risk of melioidosis acquisition during the “warm and wet” season. We find that enrichment of the environment may lead to irregular large amplitude pulses of bacterial numbers that could significantly increase the probability of disease acquisition. Our results suggest that the phages may regulate B. pseudomallei populations throughout the seasons, and these data can potentially help improve the melioidosis prevention efforts in Southeast Asia.
Abstract. Revealing mechanisms of efficient top-down control in eutrophic ecosystems remains a long term challenge in theoretical ecology. In this paper, we revisit the role of environmental heterogeneity, food web structure and shape of the predator functional response in persistence and stabilization of a planktonic system with high nutrient supply. We consider a 1D vertically resolved tri-trophic planktonic food web composed of a primary producer, an intermediate predator and a highly mobile top predator, such as a system of phytoplankton, microzooplankton and copepods. We explore the realistic scenario in which the top predator is omnivorous, i.e. when copepods can feed both on phytoplankton and microzooplankton. We show that the interplay between heterogeneity of the environment due to for instance, a light gradient in the water column, and trophic interaction between species can result in an efficient top-down control which would otherwise be impossible in the corresponding well-mixed system. We also find that allowing the top predator to feed on the primary producer may dramatically impede the coexistence of the three trophic levels, with only two levels generally surviving. The coexistence of all three trophic levels within a wide range of parameters becomes possible only when the top predator exhibits active food source switching behaviour. We also show the phenomenon of bistability in the considered tri-trophic food web: a small initial amount of the top predator should lead to its extinction whereas introduction of a supercritical initial amount will eventually result in establishment of the population. The demonstrated mechanism of top-down control seems to be rather generic and might be a good candidate to explain stability in some other non-planktonic tri-trophic ecosystems.
We apply mathematical modelling to explore bacteria-phage interaction mediated by condition-dependent lysogeny, where the type of the phage infection cycle (lytic or lysogenic) is determined by the ambient temperature. In a natural environment, daily and seasonal variations of the temperature cause a frequent switch between the two infection scenarios, making the bacteria-phage interaction with condition-dependent lysogeny highly complex. As a case study, we explore the natural control of the pathogenic bacteria Burkholderia pseudomallei by its dominant phage. B. pseudomallei is the causative agent of melioidosis, which is among the most fatal diseases in Southeast Asia and across the world. We assess the spatial aspect of B. pseudomallei-phage interactions in soil, which has been so far overlooked in the literature, using the reaction-diffusion PDE-based framework with external forcing through daily and seasonal parameter variation. Through extensive computer simulations for realistic biological parameters, we obtain results suggesting that phages may regulate B. pseudomallei numbers across seasons in endemic areas, and that the abundance of highly pathogenic phage-free bacteria shows a clear annual cycle. The model predicts particularly dangerous soil layers characterised by high pathogen densities. Our findings can potentially help refine melioidosis prevention and monitoring practices.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.