Bifurcation Analysis of a Chemostat Model of Plasmid-Bearing and Plasmid-Free Competition with Pulsed Input

Abstract

A chemostat model of plasmid-bearing and plasmid-free competition with pulsed input is proposed. The invasion threshold of the plasmid-bearing and plasmid-free organisms is obtained according to the stability of the boundary periodic solution. By use of standard techniques of bifurcation theory, the periodic oscillations in substrate, plasmid-bearing, and plasmid-free organisms are shown when some conditions are satisfied. Our results can be applied to control bioreactor aimed at producing commercial producers through genetically altered organisms.