Phage-host dynamics at the microscale in bacterial biofilm communities 

Seminar Details

Host: Dr. Lanying Zeng

Time: 4:00pm-5:00pm

Location: BCBP Rm 108

Seminar Abstract

Exposure to viral parasites, called bacteriophages, is a ubiquitous feature of bacterial life. Bacteria-phage interaction has been studied for decades, but we know relatively little about how these interactions transpire in a biofilm context at cellular resolution. We use novel methods in live infection tracking, microscopy, and individual-based simulation to make headway in this area, which unites spatial disease dynamics, host-parasite coevolution, and microbiome community ecology. We recently expanded this work to study temperate phage propagation in biofilms, and this talk will focus primarily on these novel results. Relative to their obligate lytic counterparts, we find that temperate phages – which can propagate vertically along with host cell division by integrating their genome into that of the bacterial host – show interesting and distinct patterns of host exploitation within and among biofilm populations.