Viral-structured models of dividing cells shows cell-virus coexistence via viral load partitioning between cell progeny

The present study develops and analyses a system of partial differential equations that model a single population of dividing cells infected by lytic viruses in a closed system. This mean-field model stratifies cells by cell size (continuous) and number of virus particles per cell (discrete) to couple the cell cycle and the lytic cycle under mass conservation. We present numerical solutions to the mean-field model and an equivalent stochastic model for parameter values representative of Escherichia Coli and lytic bacteriophages such as Escherichia virus T4. This analysis suggests that dividing cells and lytic virus populations in isolation can coexist in the absence of evolutionary, ecological and biochemical processes. Coexistence emerges because viral load dilution via cell growth and viral load partitioning via cell division both counteract viral load growth via viral synthesis and hence cell death by lysis. Furthermore, we analytically determine the quasi-steady state solution of the mean-field model in the continuum limit with respect to viral loads. From this solution we derive a condition for cell-virus coexistence through viral load partitioning: that the product of the viral synthesis rate, cell lysis rate and the time between cell divisions must be less than the product of log(2) and the cell growth rate. Overall, the present study provides a theoretical argument for a stable relationship between cells and lytic viruses simply by virtue of cell growth and division.