THE EXTENSION, APPLICATION, AND GENERALIZATION OF A PHAGE T7 INTRACELLULAR GROWTH MODEL by

I use bacteriophage T7, a lytic virus that infects bacterium E. coli, as a model system to explore how the genetic information encoded in a genome determines the phenotype of an organism in a given environment. By incorporating the existing experimental data and mechanisms, our group previously developed a genetically structured model of T7 intracellular growth. I extended and improved the model by recasting it in an objected-oriented framework, by incorporating a simple model to account for the host physiology, and by implementing a more mechanistic description of several steps of T7 infection. By using the revised T7 model, I explored several biological questions that have broad relevance. I examined the effects of host physiology on T7 growth. Consistent with experimental data, I found that T7 growth was sensitive to the physiological conditions of its E. coli host. Simulations further suggested that T7