Spatio-temporal modeling of the crowding conditions and metabolic variability in microbial communities
Fig 5
Dynamics of the biofilm growth of two E. coli species with different EPS production level.
(A) Spatial distribution at t = 0 h of E. coli cells WT and eps mutant (eps+ or eps++). (B) Snapshots of the space occupied only by the cells and the metabolic regions in the vertical layer (0.06 mm, y, z) of biofilms Beps+ and Beps++ at 25 h. (C) Fitness of the eps mutant relative to WT. (D) Total biomass and (E) the acetate produced by the microbial community at 25 h. Closed symbols represent simulations where the crowding effect was taken into account (), while open symbols indicate simulations where the crowding was neglected (
). Error bars show the standard deviation in five independent simulations.