C. Loverdo

Vaccine-enhanced competition permits rational bacterial strain replacement in the gut

The paper demonstrates that oral vaccination combined with engineered competitor strains can exclude pathogens and replace bacterial strains in the mouse gut.

Fitness advantage of Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron capsular polysaccharide is dependent on the resident microbiota

This study quantifies colonization bottlenecks and growth dynamics of Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron in the gut, showing that capsular polysaccharide provides a fitness advantage dependent on microbiota composition.

Hydrodynamic flow and concentration gradients in the gut enhance neutral bacterial diversity

The paper models gut hydrodynamics and concentration gradients to show they increase neutral mutant fixation probability by creating an effective population size based on active bacterial division.

A rationally designed oral vaccine induces Immunoglobulin A in the murine gut that directs the evolution of attenuated Salmonella variants

This paper shows that an oral vaccine inducing IgA in mice can direct Salmonella to evolve into less virulent variants with shorter O-antigens.

Enchained growth and cluster dislocation: a possible mechanism for microbiota homeostasis

The paper investigates how IgA antibodies affect bacterial growth and clustering in the gut, finding that faster replicating bacteria are more affected by IgA-mediated chain breaking.

Antibody-mediated cross-linking of gut bacteria hinders the spread of antibiotic resistance

This study develops a multiscale model showing that antibody-mediated bacterial clustering in the gut can hinder the spread of antibiotic resistance in host populations.

Cultural transmission and biological markets

The paper presents a biological market model of cultural transmission that explains the evolution of deference, prestige, and teaching despite non-opaque innovations.