Team:LCG-UNAM-Mexico:odes
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='''Deterministic population dynamics model'''= | ='''Deterministic population dynamics model'''= | ||
- | Some bacteriophages are parasites of bacteria, and as such, must prudently exploit their resources (in this case bacteria) to avoid killing bacterium before reproduce enough copies of itself. It has been suggested that parasites have evolved to tune their degree of virulence (amount of damage the parasite causes to the host) to achieve a balance between rapid reproduction and a prudent use of resources [1]. It is this fine balance which we intend to break increasing the virulence of phage in such a way that kills the bacterium so fast that the phage is unable to assemble their own copies.<br> | + | Some bacteriophages are parasites of bacteria, and as such, must prudently exploit their resources (in this case bacteria) to avoid killing bacterium before reproduce enough copies of itself. It has been suggested that parasites have evolved to tune their degree of virulence (amount of damage the parasite causes to the host) to achieve a balance between rapid reproduction and a prudent use of resources [1]. It is this fine balance which we intend to break increasing the virulence of phage in such a way that kills the bacterium so fast that the phage is unable to assemble their own copies.<br><br> |
- | As a first approach to solve our problem, the infection process was mathematically modeled with a system of differential equations.<br> | + | As a first approach to solve our problem, the infection process was mathematically modeled with a system of differential equations.<br><br> |
It is important to consider that the amount of phages at a given moment depends on the amount of phages on a previous point in time due to the latency period (once the phage has inserted its genome, it requires a period of time to redirect the molecular machinery of the bacteria, reproduce and start assembling). To tackle this problem, we modeled the phage infection using a system of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delay_differential_equation DELAY DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS (DDE)] based on the system proposed by [[Team:LCG-UNAM-Mexico:odes#References | Beretta [2]]]. The use of DDE allows us to update the system depending on the states of the system in previous points in time. | It is important to consider that the amount of phages at a given moment depends on the amount of phages on a previous point in time due to the latency period (once the phage has inserted its genome, it requires a period of time to redirect the molecular machinery of the bacteria, reproduce and start assembling). To tackle this problem, we modeled the phage infection using a system of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delay_differential_equation DELAY DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS (DDE)] based on the system proposed by [[Team:LCG-UNAM-Mexico:odes#References | Beretta [2]]]. The use of DDE allows us to update the system depending on the states of the system in previous points in time. |
Revision as of 22:38, 20 October 2009