Mauro Mobilia (University of Leeds) – Fluctuation-driven eradication of cooperative antimicrobial resistance in time-varying environments
- Date
- @ MALL, 12:00
- Location
- MALL
- Speaker
- Mauro Mobilia
- Affiliation
- University of Leeds
- Category
- Mathematical Biology
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global threat, and combating its spread is of paramount importance. AMR often results from cooperative behaviour involving shared drug protection [1]. Microbial communities typically evolve in volatile, spatially structured environments. Migration, fluctuations, and environmental variability therefore strongly influence AMR. While AMR is enhanced by cell migration under static conditions, this picture changes fundamentally in time-fluctuating, spatially structured environments [2].
In this seminar, we consider a two-dimensional metapopulation consisting of demes (subpopulations) in which drug-resistant and drug-sensitive cells evolve in a time-varying environment containing a toxin against which protection can be shared. Cells migrate between demes, thereby coupling them. When environmental changes and variations in deme composition occur on comparable timescales, strong population bottlenecks lead to fluctuation-driven extinction events, which are countered by migration. By assessing the combined influence of migration and environmental variability on AMR, we identify near-optimal conditions for fluctuation-driven resistance eradication and show that slow migration can accelerate and enhance AMR clearance.
The first part of this work was carried out with Lluís Hernández-Navarro, Matthew Asker, and Alastair Rucklidge; the second part was done with Lluís Hernández-Navarro, Kenneth Distefano and Uwe Täuber. This research was funded by the EPSRC and NSF. Project website: https://eedfp.com/
References:
[1] L. Hernández-Navarro, M. Asker, A. M. Rucklidge, and M. Mobilia, J. R. Soc. Interface 20, 20230393 (2023): https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsif.2023.0393
[2] L. Hernández-Navarro, K. Distefano, U. C. Täuber, and M. Mobilia, bioRxiv (2024), 2024.12.30.630406 (for PLOS Computational Biology): https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.12.30.630406