Senescence and antibiotic resistance in an age-structured population model.
Different theories have been proposed to understand the growing problem of antibiotic resistance of microbial populations. Here we investigate a model that is based on the hypothesis that senescence is a possible explanation for the existence of so-called persister cells which are resistant to antibiotic treatment. We study a chemostat model with a microbial population which is age-structured and show that if the growth rates of cells in different age classes are sufficiently close to a scalar multiple of a common growth rate, then the population will globally stabilize at a coexistence steady state. This steady state persists under an antibiotic treatment if the level of antibiotics is below a certain threshold; if the level exceeds this threshold, the washout state becomes a globally attracting equilibrium.
De Leenheer
Patrick
P
Department of Mathematics, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, 32611-8105, USA. deleenhe@ufl.edu
Dockery
Jack
J
Gedeon
Tomás
T
Pilyugin
Sergei S
SS
D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001419:Bacteria / Q000254:growth & development*; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000188:drug therapy*; D019149:Bioreactors; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial / Q000187:drug effects*; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents