Browsing by Autor "Moulton, Vincent"

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INDISIM-Denitrification, an individual-based model for study the denitrification process.
(2020) Araujo-Granda, Pablo; Gras, Anna; Ginovart, Marta; Moulton, Vincent
Denitrification is one of the key processes of the global nitrogen (N) cycle driven by bacteria. It has been widely known for more than 100 years as a process by which the biogeochemical N-cycle is balanced. To study this process, we develop an individual-based model called INDISIM-Denitrification. The model embeds a thermodynamic model for bacterial yield prediction inside the individual-based model INDISIM and is designed to simulate in aerobic and anaerobic conditions the cell growth kinetics of denitrifying bacteria. INDISIM-Denitrification simulates a bioreactor that contains a culture medium with succinate as a carbon source, ammonium as nitrogen source and various electron acceptors. To implement INDISIM-Denitrification, the individual-based model INDISIM was used to give sub-models for nutrient uptake, stirring and reproduction cycle. Using a thermodynamic approach, the denitrification pathway, cellular maintenance and individual mass degradation were modeled using microbial metabolic reactions. These equations are the basis of the sub-models for metabolic maintenance, individual mass synthesis and reducing internal cytotoxic products. The model was implemented in the open-access platform NetLogo. INDISIM-Denitrification is validated using a set of experimental data of two denitrifying bacteria in two different experimental conditions. This provides an interactive tool to study the denitrification process carried out by any denitrifying bacterium since INDISIM-Denitrification allows changes in the microbial empirical formula and in the energy-transfer-efficiency used to represent the metabolic pathways involved in the denitrification process. The simulator can be obtained from the authors on request.
INDISIM-Paracoccus, an individual-based and thermodynamic model for a denitrifying bacterium.
(2016) Araujo Granda, Pablo; Gras, Anna; Ginovart, Marta; Moulton, Vincent
We have developed an individual-based model for denitrifying bacteria. The model, called INDISIM-Paracoccus, embeds a thermodynamic model for bacterial yield prediction inside the individual-based model INDISIM, and is designed to simulate the bacterial cell population behavior and the product dynamics within the culture. The INDISIM-Paracoccus model assumes a culture medium containing succinate as a carbon source, ammonium as a nitrogen source and various electron acceptors such as oxygen, nitrate, nitrite, nitric oxide and nitrous oxide to simulate in continuous or batch culture the different nutrient-dependent cell growth kinetics of the bacterium Paracoccus denitrificans. The individuals in the model represent microbes and the individual-based model INDISIM gives the behavior-rules that they use for their nutrient uptake and reproduction cycle. Three previously described metabolic pathways for P. denitrificans were selected and translated into balanced chemical equations using a thermodynamic model. These stoichiometric reactions are an intracellular model for the individual behavior-rules for metabolic maintenance and biomass synthesis and result in the release of different nitrogen oxides to the medium. The model was implemented using the NetLogo platform and it provides an interactive tool to investigate the different steps of denitrification carried out by a denitrifying bacterium. The simulator can be obtained from the authors on request.