Question

Provide mechanisms to explain the phases (lag, log...) of growth bacteria typically exhibit in batch culture

Answer 1

A bacteria growth shows four different phases in batch culture

1. Lag phase: In the lag phase, the bacteria adapt to the new environment and accumulates nutrients only. In this phase, the growth of bacterial cells is very slow.

2. Log phase: In the log phase, the bacterial cell divides very fast with the change in time and during this phase, they utilize maximum resources for growth and division.

3. Stationary phase: Due to excessive growth, the nutrients in the culture depletes and sometimes bacteria also form toxic products that inhibit their growth. During this phase, the growth of bacterial cells growth stops

4. Death phase: During this phase, the bacterial cells sats to die due to a deficiency of essential nutrients in the culture. The number of cells in the culture starts to decline.