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A Computational Model of Bacterial Population Dynamics in Gastrointestinal Yersinia enterocolitica Infections in Mice.

Published version
Peer-reviewed

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Authors

Bohn, Erwin 
Mostolizadeh, Reihaneh  ORCID logo  https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2479-6851
Autenrieth, Ingo B 

Abstract

The complex interplay of a pathogen with its virulence and fitness factors, the host's immune response, and the endogenous microbiome determine the course and outcome of gastrointestinal infection. The expansion of a pathogen within the gastrointestinal tract implies an increased risk of developing severe systemic infections, especially in dysbiotic or immunocompromised individuals. We developed a mechanistic computational model that calculates and simulates such scenarios, based on an ordinary differential equation system, to explain the bacterial population dynamics during gastrointestinal infection. For implementing the model and estimating its parameters, oral mouse infection experiments with the enteropathogen, Yersinia enterocolitica (Ye), were carried out. Our model accounts for specific pathogen characteristics and is intended to reflect scenarios where colonization resistance, mediated by the endogenous microbiome, is lacking, or where the immune response is partially impaired. Fitting our data from experimental mouse infections, we can justify our model setup and deduce cues for further model improvement. The model is freely available, in SBML format, from the BioModels Database under the accession number MODEL2002070001.

Description

Keywords

Yersinia enterocolitica, computational modeling, gastrointestinal infection, infection, ordinary differential equations, parameter estimation, population dynamics, systems biology

Journal Title

Biology (Basel)

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

2079-7737
2079-7737

Volume Title

11

Publisher

MDPI AG
Sponsorship
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (AU 102/16-1, EXC 2124–390838134)
German Center for Infection Research (8020708703)
Federal Ministry of Education and Research (031 A535A)