The leading edge of propagation such as one sees at a plaque's periphery during plaque formation.
The velocity of wavefronts is what is calculated during simulations of plaque formation employing reaction-diffusion models. This velocity is also an experimentally measurable trait that involves determination of plaque size as a function of time. The faster a plaque's wavefront velocity, usually the larger the resulting plaque at the point of measurement or maturity.
Wavefront velocities generally are higher the faster virions diffuse or the shorter phage latent periods. Larger phage burst sizes also are thought to contribute to faster wave-front velocities. Wavefront additionally might be observed during phage propagation at the expense of bacterial biofilms.
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