Evolutionary dynamics of viral populations with density-dependent dispersal.

噬菌体是感染细菌并在细菌内复制的病毒，被认为是世界上数量最多、种类最多的有机体。它们也可以与抗生素一起用于治疗耐药细菌感染。此外，它们还提供了一个很好的实验室系统，可以更广泛地研究宿主与病毒的相互作用，因为噬菌体及其宿主都可以相对容易地操纵。到目前为止，对该系统进化的大多数工作都局限于“完全混合”的情况，即每种病毒和宿主都受到相同的条件。在观察这个系统如何在更明确的空间环境中进化的工作相对较少，在空间环境中，不同的位置可能会经历不同的条件。这是尽管空间结构在自然环境中普遍存在，例如在肠道或土壤中。该项目旨在使用噬菌体-细菌系统来研究病毒种群的空间增长，其中病毒的传播在时间和空间上是不同的。所获得的洞察力有望适用于正在进行空间范围扩展的广泛的病毒和寄生虫种群。

Bacteriophages (phage) are viruses that infect and replicate within bacteria, and are thought to be the most plentiful and diverse organism in the world. They can also be used alongside antibiotics in treating drug-resistant bacterial infections. In addition, they offer an excellent laboratory system to study host-virus interactions more generally, as both the phage and its host can be manipulated with relative ease. Most work thus far into the evolution of this system has been limited to the 'well-mixed' case, where each virus and host is subject to the same condition. Relatively little work has been done which looks at how this system evolves in more explicitly spatial settings, where different conditions may be experienced depending on location. This despite the prevalence of spatial structure in natural environments, such as in the gut or in soil. This project aims to use the phage-bacteria system to investigate the spatial growth of a viral population, where the dispersal of the virus varies in time and space. The insights gained will hopefully be applicable to a wide range of viral and parasitic populations undergoing spatial range expansion.