TY - JOUR

T1 - Modeling of Symbiotic Bacterial Biofilm Growth with an Example of the Streptococcus–Veillonella sp. System

AU - Feng, Dianlei

AU - Neuweiler, Insa

AU - Nogueira, Regina

AU - Nackenhorst, Udo

N1 - Funding Information: The authors would like to thank the reviewer for his/her constructive comments and efforts towards improving our manuscript. Thanks also go to Dr. Henryke Rath, Dr. Nadine Kommerein and Mrs. Natascha Brandhorst for many helpful discussions. Dianlei Feng would also like to thank the German Research Council (DFG) under grant No. FE 1962/1-1 (426819984).

PY - 2021/3/24

Y1 - 2021/3/24

N2 - We present a multi-dimensional continuum mathematical model for modeling the growth of a symbiotic biofilm system. We take a dual-species namely, the Streptococcus–Veillonella sp. biofilm system as an example for numerical investigations. The presented model describes both the cooperation and competition between these species of bacteria. The coupled partial differential equations are solved by using an integrative finite element numerical strategy. Numerical examples are carried out for studying the evolution and distribution of the bio-components. The results demonstrate that the presented model is capable of describing the symbiotic behavior of the biofilm system. However, homogenized numerical solutions are observed locally. To study the homogenization behavior of the model, numerical investigations regarding on how random initial biomass distribution influences the homogenization process are carried out. We found that a smaller correlation length of the initial biomass distribution leads to faster homogenization of the solution globally, however, shows more fluctuated biomass profiles along the biofilm thickness direction. More realistic scenarios with bacteria in patches are also investigated numerically in this study.

AB - We present a multi-dimensional continuum mathematical model for modeling the growth of a symbiotic biofilm system. We take a dual-species namely, the Streptococcus–Veillonella sp. biofilm system as an example for numerical investigations. The presented model describes both the cooperation and competition between these species of bacteria. The coupled partial differential equations are solved by using an integrative finite element numerical strategy. Numerical examples are carried out for studying the evolution and distribution of the bio-components. The results demonstrate that the presented model is capable of describing the symbiotic behavior of the biofilm system. However, homogenized numerical solutions are observed locally. To study the homogenization behavior of the model, numerical investigations regarding on how random initial biomass distribution influences the homogenization process are carried out. We found that a smaller correlation length of the initial biomass distribution leads to faster homogenization of the solution globally, however, shows more fluctuated biomass profiles along the biofilm thickness direction. More realistic scenarios with bacteria in patches are also investigated numerically in this study.

KW - Biofilm model

KW - Heterogeneous distribution

KW - Numerical simulation

KW - Streptococcus–Veillonella

KW - Symbiotic system

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85103349112&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/s11538-021-00888-2

DO - 10.1007/s11538-021-00888-2

M3 - Article

C2 - 33760986

AN - SCOPUS:85103349112

VL - 83

JO - Bulletin of mathematical biology

JF - Bulletin of mathematical biology

SN - 0092-8240

IS - 5

M1 - 48

ER -