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Microbial Growth and Its Kinetics
Microbial Growth and Its Kinetics
kinetics
Objectives
1. The fastest known doubling time for a bacterium and under what
conditions this occurs
2. The slowest estimated doubling time for a bacterium and under
what conditions this occurs
3. Calculate a growth rate, u, from the slope of a growth curve
4. Compare and contrast growth in pure culture with growth in the
environment
5. The growth curve and the parts of the curve
6. A mathematical equation for each part of the curve as well as the
Monod equation
7. At least two electron acceptors that can be used under anaerobic
conditions in place of oxygen
8. Whether aerobic or anaerobic metabolism yields more energy
and why
9. The mass balance equation for aerobic metabolism
Lecture 2 – Growth
What are the differences between growth in a flask in pure culture and
growth in the environment (e.g. soil, water, skin surfaces, leaf surfaces)?
vs.
Growth Curve
8.0
Stationary
Density
Log CFU/ml
Optical density
CFU/ml
7.0 De
a th
ia l
10
Optical
6.0
t
Log
onen
Ex p
5.0
4.0
Lag
Lag Time
Lag phase Three causes for lag: physiological lag
low initial numbers
appropriate gene(s) absent
22
23
24
2n
Example: An experiment was performed in a lab flask growing cells on
0.1% salicylate and starting with 2.2 x 104 cells. As the experiment
below shows, at the end there were 3.8 x 109 cells.
This is an increase is 5 orders of magnitude!!
X = 2nX0
1.0e+9
1.0e+4
0 20 40 60 80 100
Time (Hours)
How does this compare to growth in the soil?
Half-life u
Residue Days
Days-1 Relative rate
Rearrange:
1.0e+9 dX/X = udt
Viable Count (CFU/ml)
Integrate:
1.0e+8 lnX = ut + C, where C = lnX0
dX/dt = uX
where u = specific growth rate (h-1)
1.0e+7
lnX = ut + ln X0 or X = X0eut
1.0e+5
Note that u, the growth rate, is the slope of this straight line
1.0e+4
0 20 40 60 80 100
Time (Hours)
Calculating growth rate during exponential growth
lnX = ut + ln X0 or X = X0eut
Note that u, the growth rate, is the slope of this straight line
Find the slope of this growth curve
1.0e+10
1.0e+9
Viable Count (CFU/ml)
1.0e+8
lnX = ut + ln X0 or u = lnX – lnX0
1.0e+7 t – t0
1.0e+4
0 20 40 60 80 100
Time (Hours)
Now calculate the doubling time
If you know the growth rate, u, you can calculate the doubling time
for the culture.
lnX = ut + ln X0
or: 2 = eut
2 = e2(t)
When under ideal, nonlimiting conditions, the growth rate can only be
changed by changing the temperature (growth increases with increasing
temp.). Otherwise to change the growth rate, you must obtain a different
microbe or use a different substrate.
8.0
Stationary
Stationary
Optical density
Log 10 CFU/ml
7.0 De
a th
ia l
6.0
t
onen
Ex p
5.0
4.0
Lag Time
Stationary phase
Death phase
The Monod equation describes the dependence of the growth rate on the
substrate concentration:
u = um .S 1.0e+10
1.0e+9
Ks + S
1.0e+7
u = specific growth rate (h-1)
1.0e+6
1.0e+4
S = substrate concentration (mg L-1) 0 20 40 60 80 100
Time (Hours)
dX/dt = uX
u = um. S
Ks + S u = dX/Xdt
Monod equation Exponential growth equation
1.0e+10
1.0e+9
Ks + S 1.0e+7
1.0e+6
1.0e+4
0 20 40 60 80 100
Time (Hours)
There are two special cases for the Monod growth equation
dX/dt = umX
dX/dt = um. S . X
Ks
growth will have a first order dependence on substrate concentration
(growth rate is very sensitive to S).
Which of the above two cases is the norm for environmental samples?
Growth in terms of substrate loss
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Time (days)
Aerobic vs. anaerobic metabolism
Aerobic metabolism
General equation:
(C6H12O6) + 6(O2) 6(CO2) + 6(H2O)
The mass balance equation illustrates that some of the carbon in the
substrate is used to build new cell mass and some is oxidized completely
to CO2 to provide energy for the cell.
Using the mass balance equation and the cell yield, one can calculate the
% of the substrate carbon that is used to build new cell mass and the %
that is evolved as CO2
General equation:
C6H12O6 + alternate TEA CO2 + CH4 + H2O