Growth and Decay of a Planktonic Microbial Culture
The paper shows that the phenomenological trends of both growth and decay of a microbial population in a given medium are easily reproducible with simple equations that allow gathering the experimental data (plate counts) related to different microbial species, in different mediums and even at diffe...
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| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wiley
2020-01-01
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| Series: | International Journal of Microbiology |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2020/4186468 |
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| Summary: | The paper shows that the phenomenological trends of both growth and decay of a microbial population in a given medium are easily reproducible with simple equations that allow gathering the experimental data (plate counts) related to different microbial species, in different mediums and even at different temperatures, in a single master plot. The guideline of the proposed approach is that microbes and surrounding medium form a system where they affect each other and that the so-called “growth curve” is just the phenomenological appearance of such interaction. The whole system (cells and medium) changes following a definite pathway described as the evolution of a “virtual” microbial population in planktonic conditions. The proposed equations come from the assumption of a duplication mechanism with a variable generation time for the growth and of an exponential-like decline with a linear increase of the rate for the decay. The intermediate phase between growth and decay is a time span during which growth and death counterbalance each other and age differences within the virtual cell population tend to level off. The proposed approach does not provide an a priori description of this phase but allows the fit of the whole evolution trend of a microbial culture whenever the experimental data are available. Deviations of such a trend concern microbes able to form spores, modify their metabolism, or express phenotypic heterogeneity, to counterbalance adverse medium conditions. |
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| ISSN: | 1687-918X 1687-9198 |