MODULE 3

MICROBIAL GROWTH: GROWTH CURVE, MATHEMATICAL EXPRESSION OF

GROWTH CURVE, SYNCHRONOUS GROWTH

Growth of bacterial cultures is defined as an increase in the number of

bacteria in a population rather than in the size of individual cells.

The common mode of bacterial division is by binary fission;

GROWTH CURVE OF BACTERIA
The bacterial growth curve is a concept of pure batch culture and not continuous culture. In
a batch culture (also known as a closed culture), the bacteria are grown in a medium and
condition best suitable for its growth, without replenishment. There is a limitation for
nutrients.

In contrast, bacteria growing in continuous culture are continuously replenished with media
and toxic contents removed regularly and hence the cells don’t shift to stationary phase.

In a batch culture, nutrient concentrations decline and concentrations of wastes increase.

The growth of microorganisms reproducing by binary fission is plotted as the logarithm of
the number of viable cells versus the incubation time. The resulting curve has four distinct
phases

1. Lag Phase
2. Exponential (Log) Phase
3. Stationary Phase
4. Decline (Death) phase
Lag Phase:

When a bacterium is inoculated into a fresh culture medium there is no

immediate cell division and an increase in cell number. The bacterium senses
the presence of a large number of nutrients and potential to multiply. The time
period is used to synthesise materials for building the cell. At this phase, there is
no increase in cell number but the cell tends to increase in size and metabolism
slowly adjusts to the new environment. The time period of lag phase is variable
and depends on multiple factors including the culture medium in use, where is
the inoculum obtained from.

Exponential phase: (log phase)

Once the cells are ready for replication they start dividing rapidly. At this time,
the cells have no limitations placed and are primed for the division at the
fastest rate possible. The peak performance of every cell is at the best possible
rate and hence most cells are uniform in terms of their physiology and
biochemistry.
All biochemical assays, antibiotic sensitivity assays performed in routine
diagnostics is tested in this phase. This phase represents the best possible
doubling time for a bacterial cell and doubling time is calculated in this phase.

The time required for the cells to double is called generation time.

The growth of a bacterial population occurs in a geometric or

exponential manner: with each division cycle (generation),
one cell gives rise to 2 cells, then 4 cells, then 8 cells, then 16, then
32, and so forth.
 Generation time g= t/n
t is the total time of incubation

n is the number of generations

The growth rate (number of generations per hour) termed R , is the

reciprocal of generation time

R = 1/g

Generation time of bacteria

E. coli 20 min

Bacillus subtilis 26 min

Staphylococcus aureus 30 min

Clostridium botulinum 35 min

Problems

1. If a single bacterium divides every 25 minutes, how many would be

there after 3 hours.?
2. During log phase growth of a bacterial culture a sample is taken at
8.00am and found to contain 1000 cells/ml. A second sample is taken
at 5.54pm and is found to contain 1x10 6 cells/ml. Calculate the
generation time in hrs.
 Stationary phase

At this phase, the total number of viable cells roughly remains the same
throughout. This is maybe because the cells cease to divide, due to depletion
of nutrients

In stationary phase, bacterial cells are unusually resistant to many different

chemicals. The bacterium often shows shrinkage and nucleoid condensation.
Bacteria also produce proteins called as starvation proteins which make the
cell much more resistant to damage.

For example, The Dps (DNA-binding protein from starved cells) protein
protects DNA. There is some evidence that certain pathogens at least (such as
S typhimurium) express more virulent genes in stationary phase.

Death Phase:

The bacteria have virtually exhausted everything that medium had and the
culture medium has become unfavourable for growth. The cells start dying at
this phase
A majority of the microbial population dies in a logarithmic manner, the death
rate decreases after the population has been drastically reduced.

SYNCHRONOUS GROWTH

When all the cells are in the same phase or same stage of growth, it is a
synchronous growth.