Berlin 2012 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 29: Posters: Regulation

BP 29.7: Poster

Thursday, March 29, 2012, 17:30–19:30, Poster A

Dynamics of bacterial persistence — •Pintu Patra and Stefan Klumpp — Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces Wissenschaftspark Golm 14424 Potsdam, Germany

Persistence is a survival mechanism of bacterial populations that allows them to tackle environmental stress such as antibiotic killing. The phenomenon is the result of reversible phenotype switching between two distinct phenotypic states which are characterized by slow and fast growth or decay. Therefore these cells generate two distinct sub population during their evolution. We analyse the transient and evolutionary behaviour of a population consisting of two sub population, persister and normal cells, with reversible switching between the two phenotypes. We derive an analytical expression for the fitness of each sub population in fixed and varying environmental conditions. We calculate different time scales in which the total population evolves during its growth and decay which can be used to experimentally measure the phenotypic switching rates. Moreover we show that there is an evolutionary optimal phenotype switching rate for periodic environmental variations. We calculate the total population growth rate to map out the conditions under which the population grows or decays in periodically changing environments. Our study provides a theoretical underpinning for studying phenotypic switching.