Bacterial growth

Microbial growth is defined as the increase in

number of cell in a population.
Growth Curve: graphical expression of microbial
growth.
Lag, log, stationary and death phase
Lag phase: When a microbial culture is inoculated
into a fresh medium, growth usually begins only
after a period of time called the lag phase.
Log phase : phase in which the cells double during
a constant interval.
Stationary Phase: In the stationary phase, there is
no net increase or decrease in cell number and
thus the growth rate of the population is zero.
Death Phase : phase in the growth when the cells
start dying and the graph curves downwards
Lag Phase: Lag phase is the result of change of conditions for
microorganisms
Duration of lag phase depends on various parameters such as;
temperature, pH, nutrients and age of the culture
Lag phase is the time taken to adjust with the new growing
conditions.
Is it reduce the duration of la phase ?
Log phase is the phase in which bacteria show
exponential growth.
During this phase generation doubles with constant
interval
As a result the graph shows a straight line in a
semilogarithmic graph
Metabolic activity will be on high rate in log phase.
This phase is used for the calculation of generation time
Rates of exponential growth vary greatly. The rate of
exponential growth is inuenced by environmental
conditions (temperature, composition of the culture
medium), as well as by genetic characteristics of the
organism itself.
Stationary Phase
In a batch culture exponential growth is limited.
After exponential growth essential nutrients is almost used up and bacteria produce
large amount of waste products
This conditions reduce growth rate
Bacterial metabolism reduces
Some cells divide and some die as a result growth rate become almost zero
This is a phenomenon called cryptic growth
Usually during stationary phase bacteria produce many secondary metabolites
During this stage bacteria frequently produce a variety of starvation proteins, which
make the cell much more resistant to damage in a variety of ways
They increase peptidoglycan cross-linking and cell wall strength
Chaperones prevent protein denaturation and renature damaged proteins.
As a result of these and many other mechanisms, the starved cells become harder to kill
and more resistant to starvation itself, damaging temperature changes, oxidative and
osmotic damage, and toxic chemicals such as chlorine.

Death Phase
Detrimental environmental changes like nutrient deprivation and the buildup of
toxic wastes lead to the decline in the number of viable cells characteristic of the
death phase.
Some time the dead cell fail to lyse as result the optical density of the medium
can remain constant and the graph can be a straight line.
Measurement of Microbial growth:
Direct counting
The Petroff-Hausser Counting Chamber
Plating methods
TVC
Filtration method
Measurement of cell mass
Wet weight
Dry weight

Measurement of cell density
Optical density by spectrophotometer