ABSTRACT
Bacterial population dynamics are characterized from the growth and division of a bacterium into two daughter cells, resulting in theory to the doubling of the bacterial population and a new generation of bacteria genetically identical to the original cells. The growth of population with time usually is assessed with techniques like œow cytometry, biomass increase, or colony counting. The basic mathematical model of bacterial growth is described by the formula lg Nt = lgN0 + tμlg2, where Nt is the cell population at time t, N0 is the starting population at time zero, and μ is the speci˜c growth rate constant that is characteristic for a cultured organism and is equal to the reciprocal of the doubling period (generation time) of the cells. For a simple batch culture, four stages of bacterial growth are indenti˜ed; the lag phase at the start of the culture where growth is slow, the log phase where the culture reaches the maximum growth rate, the stationary phase where the population number reaches a plateau, and ˜nally, followed by the death phase (Zwietering et al., 1990).
