Growth bistability in small bacterial populations exposed to antibiotics.

Abstract

With the development of microfluidics, it has now become possible to assess the susceptibility of bacteria to antibiotics at the single-cell level instead of relying on population measurements. Such studies are particularly relevant when the growth of a bacterial population in the presence of antibiotics is heterogeneous. Here, we build a model to describe such a case and apply it to experimental measurements on a small population of E. coli exposed to ciprofloxacin, a drug which is well-known for triggering a bistable response.