Js. Jaworska et al., A COMMUNITY MODEL OF CILIATE TETRAHYMENA AND BACTERIA ESCHERICHIA-COLI .1. INDIVIDUAL-BASED MODELS OF TETRAHYMENA AND ESCHERICHIA-COLI POPULATIONS, Bulletin of mathematical biology, 58(2), 1996, pp. 247-264
The dynamics of a microbial community consisting of a eucaryotic cilia
te Tetrahymena pyriformis and procaryotic Escherichia coli in a batch
culture is explored by employing an individual-based approach. In this
portion of the article, Part I, population models are presented. Beca
use both models are individual-based, models of individual organisms a
re developed prior to construction of the population models. The indiv
idual models use an energy budget method in which growth depends on en
ergy gain from feeding and energy sinks such as maintenance and reprod
uction, These models are not limited by simplifying assumptions about
constant yield, constant energy sinks and Monod growth kinetics as are
traditional models of microbal organisms. Population models are gener
ated from individual models by creating distinct individual types and
assigning to each type the number of real individuals they represent.
A population is a compilation of individual types that vary in a phase
of cell cycle and physiological parameters such as filtering rate for
ciliates and maximum anabolic rate for bacteria. An advantage of the
developed models is that they realistically describe the growth of the
individual cells feeding on resource which varies in density and comp
osition. Part II, the core of the project, integrates models into a dy
namic microbial community and provides model analysis based upon avail
able data.