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Bioinformatics, Computational and Systems Biology

Physics-informed modeling of living systems

Population Ghost Effect Explains Long-term Plasmid Persistence Following Antibiotic Misuse

Friday, October 13, 2023
4:30 PM – 4:45 PM PDT
Location: 331 (Center, Level 3)

    Presenting Author(s)

  • Zhengqing Zhou

    PhD Candidate
    Duke University
    Durham, North Carolina, United States

    • Co-Author(s)

  • AW

    Andrea Weiss

    Duke University, United States

    • Primary Investigator(s)

  • LY

    Lingchong You

    Distinguished Professor
    Duke University, United States

Antibiotic misuse leads to prolonged persistence of antibiotic resistance within microbial communities, significantly compromising clinical interventions. Although plasmids play a crucial role in carrying antibiotic resistance genes, their temporal dynamics remain inadequately understood. In this work we combine mathematical modelling and quantitative experiments to unravel the mystery of the extended plasmid persistence following antibiotic misuse. Our findings reveal that antibiotics induce purifying selection on the microbial communities, pushing them into a ghost-effect zone, where plasmid decay is decelerated due to the slow process of plasmid segregation loss.