Competitive Inhibition and Mutualistic Growth in Polymicrobial Infections: Deciphering Staphylococcus aureus – Acinetobacter baumannii Interaction Dynamics

Sandra Timme 1(*), Sindy Wendler 2(*), Tilman Klassert 3,4, Joao Pedro Saraiva5, Ulisses Nunes da Rocha5, Manuel Wittchen 6, Sareda Schramm 7, Ralf Ehricht 8, 9, Stefan Monecke 8, 10, Birgit Edel 2, Jürgen Rödel 2, Bettina Löffler 2, Maria Soledad Ramirez 7, Hortense Slevogt 3,4, Marc Thilo Figge 1,11 (*¥), Lorena Tuchscherr 2 (*¥)

(*): These authors contributed equally to this work (¥): corresponding authors 1 Applied Systems Biology, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology, Hans Knöll Institute, Friedrich Schiller University Jena 2 Institute of Medical Microbiology, Jena University Hospital 3 Respiratory Infection Dynamics, Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research - HZI Braunschweig, Germany 4 Department of Respiratory Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Hannover Medical School, German Center for Lung Research (DZL), BREATH, Hannover, Germany 5 Department of Environmental Microbiology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZ, 04318 Leipzig, Germany 6 Center for Biotechnology, Bielefeld University, D-33501 Bielefeld, Germany 7 Department of Biological Science, Center for Applied Biotechnology Studies, California State University, 800 N State College Blvd, Fullerton, CA, 92831, USA 8 Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology, Jena, Germany; 9 Institute of Physical Chemistry , Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany 10 Institute for Medical Microbiology and Virology, Dresden University Hospital, Dresden, Germany 11 Institute of Microbiology, Friedrich-Schiller-University, Jena, Germany

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