Assignment #1 for HSCI 10161 Microbiology Lecture

Due Date: Start of class on Week 5

Write out the answers to the questions below on a separate sheet(s) of
paper. (Your answers may be neatly hand-written or word processed.)
Make sure to number the questions on your answer sheet(s), to put your
full name at the top of the sheet and to SHOW YOUR WORK!
Total marks = 10 (Worth 5 % of final mark)
The late penalty is 10% per school day. (5% will be lost if handed in on due
date but AFTER start of class.)
1. A student grows a culture of E. coli in 100 ml of liquid medium
contained in a 250 ml Erlenmeyer flask and decides to pour plate samples of
the culture onto LB agar plates. (LB stands for Luria Broth. Its simply a
type of broth on which E. coli grow well.) Before plating, she sets up
several dilutions of the culture (indicated in the table) and plates 0.2 ml of
each by pour plating. She does this in duplicate for each dilution. She
incubates all of her LB agar plates in a 37 C incubator and counts the
colonies on each plate later. Her results are as follows:
Total Dilution Factor
10-5
10-6
10-7

Plate A
324
74
7

Plate B
654
67
7

a) Determine the average density in cfu/ml of the culture based on the

relevant results. Give your answer in scientific notation with three
significant figures. (You do not need to include an error reading. Just
calculate the average density in a way that makes the most sense.)
(4 marks).
b) Significantly more colonies grew on Plate B at the 10-5 dilution as
compared to Plate A at the same dilution. Which plate (Plate A or Plate B) is
more likely to be a true indication of the number cells that were present in
the culture at the 10-5 dilution? Explain your reasoning. (2 marks).

2. The following figure shows growth curve data obtained for two different
cultures. Time in hours is shown on the x-axis and optical density (OD)
taken using a spectrophotometer is shown on the y-axis.

a) Calculate the generation time for each of the two cultures. You must
include the graph above and indicate the points on the graph that you are
using to perform the relevant calculations in your assignment submission.
Which culture is growing faster, A or B? (4 marks)