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Genes for Breakfast

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Revision as of 06:58, 11 June 2010 by Yixian (talk | contribs)
Attention: Next meeting Friday(the first week)
at what time?

Bacteria "feed on" free strands of DNA in the environment. Some of the strands could be virulent, yet there are also antibodies helping bacteria against the viruses. Besides, some bacteria occupy a special F-plasmid, which allows the bacteria sending copies of its DNA strands to the others (including copies F-plasmids). Infected bacteria have certainly lower fitness, yet holding F-plasmids or antibodies is also costly. Fixing the population size/ number of bacteria, we could address the spread of viruses.

Initiation: N bacteria signed with 3 properties a) with/without F-Plasmid b)infected by virus or not c)hold antibody or not.(Property b and c cannot both be positive at the same time.)

Interaction rules: Only bacteria with F-Plasmid can transfer their positive properties(a and b or c) to another bacterium. Infected bacteria can be cured by receiving antibodies. And bacteria holding antibodies cannot be infected.

...... (Details to be discussed)

Observation: Dynamics of the fraction of infectious, immune bacteria and bacteria holding F-Plasmids. (Which kind of attractor can we expect?)