What Is Bacterial Growth & Generation Time?

- Curves, Phases & Stages

Bacteria are able to reproduce at an incredibly rapid pace. In this lesson, we will examine the di erent phases of
bacterial growth and how to calculate population numbers based on generation times and culture size.

Impossible Bacterial Growth

It's likely many of you out there have seen this video. If not, let me describe what's happening. This
is a video of a single E. coli cell dividing into many, right before your eyes. Now, actual binary
ssion, which is the process where the cell divides in two, doesn't occur nearly this fast. In reality, it
takes about 20 minutes for one E. coli cell to split into two. To put it another way, every 20 minutes,
the population of E. coli can double. If you started with a single E. coli cell and let it grow unchecked
for 36 hours, you would end up with enough cells to fully cover the surface of the Earth. Let it grow
unchecked for 48 hours, and you would have a mass of E. coli cells that weighed as much as 4,000
Earths! Pretty impressive, especially when you consider that a trillion cells weigh only one gram.

In addition to being an infamous cause of food poisoning, E. coli is a common inhabitant of the
gastrointestinal tracts of mammals. So if E. coli is able to double every 20 minutes and cover the
Earth in a day and half, why don't we literally have E. coli coming out of our, well, we'll just say ears?
Because bacterial growth is not in nite with a constant rate. In this lesson, we will examine the
major characteristics of bacterial growth and discover why we're not constantly walking through
giant slimy puddles of bacterial cells.

Graphing Bacterial Growth

I mentioned that bacterial growth is not in nite and constant. In fact, bacterial growth is quite
complex, in uenced by any number of variables, including the species, temperature, pH, available
nutrients, toxin concentrations, and competition between organisms. In order to illustrate what is
happening during the life of your average bacteria, let's examine another infamous bacteria:
Staphylococcus aureus. This common skin bacteria is often implicated in deadly bacterial infections.
The reason I've chosen Staph. aureus is that under ideal conditions, it has a generation time of 30
minutes, a nice round time for performing calculations. A generation time is simply the time it
takes for one cell to become two. So, if we start with one Staph. aureus cell, in 30 minutes there will
be two. In another 30 minutes, there should be four, and so on to 8, 16, 32, 64, inde nitely. If we
graphed this relationship, it would look like this, a perfect exponential graph.
 Bacterial Growth Generation Time

In reality, the graph of Staph. aureus growth will look like this. You can see a small portion that
resembles the exponential graph, but before and after it looks a bit strange. Fortunately, we can
break this graph into four sections, called phases.

Phases of Bacterial Growth

The rst phase is called the lag phase. This phase is characterized by very little to no bacterial
growth. During this time, the bacteria are adjusting to the environment, growing in size,
synthesizing biochemicals, and storing up nutrients. The length of the lag phase depends on the
environmental conditions the bacteria are in and the overall health of the cells.

The second phase should look familiar. This is the log phase, characterized by the bacterial cells
doubling at a constant, exponential rate. During this time, our Staph. aureus is hitting its stride,
doubling in number every 30 minutes. You can see how the population can increase very rapidly. In
pathogenic species, it is usually during the log phase that disease symptoms occur as the rising
population in icts greater and greater tissue damage in the host.

The third phase is the stationary phase, when population growth levels o as the rate of cell
death begins to equal the rate of cell division. After several hours of rapid cell division, two things
are bound to occur: nutrients will be consumed, and toxic byproducts will be released. In either
case, cell division can't continue at the same rate if it becomes harder to nd food, or you can't
survive the toxins.

The fourth phase is the death phase, characterized by a steady decline in population numbers
from starvation and/or high toxin concentrations. Eventually the bu et must end. Without food or
in the face of lethal toxic conditions, more cells will die than will grow and divide.

All bacterial growth will produce a graph like this, but the actual times can vary a lot. We already
know E. coli has a generation time of 20 minutes, while Staph. aureus needs 30. The spirochete that
causes the STD syphilis has a generation time of 33 hours. And these are at optimal conditions. In
reality, environmental limitations and competition for resources is going to make the doubling time
even longer.

Calculating Populations with Generation Times

I mentioned exponential growth, but what does that actually mean? You know that one cell divides
into two and two cells into four and four into eight. This can also be written with exponents. After
two generation times, you have 2 squared, or

2 X 2 = 4 cells

After three generation times, you have 2 cubed, or

2 X 2 X 2 = 8 cells

You can use this simple relationship to calculate how many cells you should have after any number
of generation times have elapsed.

Looking back at our Staph. aureus example, if you start with one cell and allow four hours of
exponential growth, you can determine how many cells you would have at the end. Staph. aureus
doubles every 30 minutes, which happens twice every hour, for six hours. So, 2 generation times
per hour X 4 hours = 8 generations.

Now, going back to the exponents, 2 raised to the 8th power is

2 X 2 X 2 X 2 X 2 X 2 X 2 X 2 = 256 cells

But suppose you started with 1,500 cells, not one, and let them grow for four hours. The math
works just the same. If every one cell will be 256 cells after four hours and eight generation times,
then

1,500 cells X 256 = 384,000 cells

Lesson Summary
It's time to review.

Bacteria reproduce by splitting themselves in half, making one cell into two. Every species of
bacteria has its own generation time, the time it takes for one cell to become two. Generation
times can vary depending on the species of bacteria and the environmental conditions.

Bacterial growth always follows a predictable pattern with four phases:

Lag phase: very little to no bacterial growth

Log phase: the number of bacterial cells doubles at a constant, exponential rate

Stationary phase: population growth levels o as the rate of cell death equals the rate of cell division

Death phase: a decline in population numbers due to starvation and/or high toxin concentrations

In order to calculate population growth during the exponential phase, simply multiply the original
starting population number by 2 raised to the power representing the number of generation times
that have elapsed.

Learning Outcomes
 g
When this lesson is complete, you should be able to:

Identify bacterial growth rates

Calculate the generational time of bacteria growth

Understand the four phases and patterns of bacterial growth