About the Authors

Pengxing Cao

Affiliation Department of Mathematics, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

Xiahui Tan

Affiliation Department of Microbiology and Physiological Systems, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States of America

Graham Donovan

Affiliation Department of Mathematics, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

Michael J. Sanderson

Affiliation Department of Microbiology and Physiological Systems, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States of America

James Sneyd

sneyd@math.auckland.ac.nz

Affiliation Department of Mathematics, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: JS GD MJS. Performed the experiments: XT. Analyzed the data: PC. Contributed to the writing of the manuscript: PC JS. Conceived and designed the model: PC JS GD. Performed the simulations: PC.