Evolutionary and Population Dynamics of Bacteria and Phage

Bacterial viruses, aka bacteriophage or phage, are ubiquitous in nature, yet many central aspects of host-phage biology have not been integrated into mathematical models. In this talk I present a series of theoretical efforts to understand the diversity, population dynamics and life history of phage. First, I discuss an evolutionary ecology model of host-phage diversification using the framework of adaptive dynamics and show how the principle of competition exclusion is modified in the context of coevolutionary arms races. Second, current models of host-phage population dynamics neglect to include the reduction of lytic effectiveness as hosts approach stationary phase. Incorporating reduced lysis into dynamics leads to a prediction of alternative stable states, which are discussed in the context of simple experiments. Finally, I explore ongoing experimental and theoretical efforts to understand how phage may optimally exploit their hosts by utilizing a variety of life history strategies.