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Cited by 23Bacterial Genetics and BiotechnologyMicrobial Metabolic Engineering and BioproductionMicrobial Community Ecology and Physiology

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 1 of the 1 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Microbial Primer: Bacterial growth kinetics: This article is part of the Microbial Primers collection.

Open access
Fernández-Martínez, Lorena T., Javelle, Arnaud, Hoskisson, Paul A.·2024·Microbiology
DOI 10.1099/mic.0.001428PMC PMC10924458
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Abstract

Growth of microorganisms and interpretation of growth data are core skills required by microbiologists. While science moves forward, it is of paramount importance that essential skills are not lost. The bacterial growth curve and the information that can gleaned from it is of great value to all of microbiology, whether this be a simple growth experiment, comparison of mutant strains or the establishment of conditions for a large-scale multi-omics experiment. Increasingly, the basics of plotting and interpreting growth curves and growth data are being overlooked. This primer article serves as a refresher for microbiologists on the fundamentals of microbial growth kinetics.

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Registry

Crossref · 10.1099/mic.0.001428

Cites

1 of 1 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Figures

Fig. 1. Plots illustrating the growth of microbial populations. (a) Plotting cell numbers against time on an arithmetic scale gives rise to a curve when growth is exponential. (b) When the same data are plotted on a semi-logarithmic scale the relationship is linear, and the slope of the line is equal to the specific growth rate, µ. (c). When considering the increase in biomass, rather than cell numbers, the natural logarithm of biomass plotted against time results in a straight line during the exponential phase of growth (grey), and again the slope of the line is equal to the specific growth rate, µ (h−1).
Fig. 1. Plots illustrating the growth of microbial populations. (a) Plotting cell numbers against time on an arithmetic scale gives rise to a curve when growth is exponential. (b) When the same data are plotted on a semi-logarithmic scale the relationship is linear, and the slope of the line is equal to the specific growth rate, µ. (c). When considering the increase in biomass, rather than cell numbers, the natural logarithm of biomass plotted against time results in a straight line during the exponential phase of growth (grey), and again the slope of the line is equal to the specific growth rate, µ (h−1).CC BY · PubMed Central
Fig. 2. Plots illustrating the relationship between growth of microbial cultures and growth-limiting substrates. (a) The effect on biomass at stationary phase as a function of initial substrate concentration. (b) The effect of residual growth-limiting substrate on specific growth rate, µ. The region in grey is equivalent to the exponential phase of growth, essentially µ max. The estimation of K s is indicated with the dotted line, where s=K s, µ=0.5µ max.
Fig. 2. Plots illustrating the relationship between growth of microbial cultures and growth-limiting substrates. (a) The effect on biomass at stationary phase as a function of initial substrate concentration. (b) The effect of residual growth-limiting substrate on specific growth rate, µ. The region in grey is equivalent to the exponential phase of growth, essentially µ max. The estimation of K s is indicated with the dotted line, where s=K s, µ=0.5µ max.CC BY · PubMed Central

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Citations

Cites

Show all 1 references

Research works printed but not linked: 9

  1. 10.1111/mmi.15051 · DOI
  2. 10.1111/1758-2229.12223 · DOI
  3. Pirt, 1975, Principles of Microbe and Cell Cultivation
  4. 10.1099/mic.0.27924-0 · DOI
  5. 10.1128/JB.181.24.7405-7408.1999 · DOI
  6. 10.1099/00221287-23-3-457 · DOI
  7. 10.1186/s12859-016-1016-7 · DOI
  8. Dénéréaz, Bactextract: an R-shiny app to quickly extract, plot and analyse bacterial growth and gene expression data, Access Micro
  9. 10.1128/mBio.01378-20 · DOI

Metadata

Authors
Fernández-Martínez, L. T., Javelle, A., & Hoskisson, P. A.
Affiliations
  • Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8TA, UK
  • University of Strathclyde (GB)
Corresponding author
Hoskisson, Paul A.
ORCID
Venue
Microbiology
Publisher
Microbiology Society
Published
2024-02-08
Volume
170
Issue
2
ISSN
  • 1350-0872 (ISSN-L)
  • 1465-2080
DOI
10.1099/mic.0.001428
PMC
PMC10924458
OpenAlex
W4391654097
Cited by
23
References
1
Citations by year
2026: 11 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 2
FWCI
6.10
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Microbiology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • ENLIGHTEN (Jurnal Bimbingan dan Konseling Islam) (acceptedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • Strathprints: The University of Strathclyde institutional repository (University of Strathclyde) (acceptedVersion)
Funders
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/T004126/1, BB/T001038/1, BB/S016651/1)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Bacterial Genetics and Biotechnology
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Microbial Metabolic Engineering and Bioproduction
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology
Keywords
bacterial growth kinetics, bacterial growth curves, microbial growth
MeSH terms
Food Microbiology, Kinetics

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Microbial Primer: Bacterial growth kinetics: This article is part of the Microbial Primers collection. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1099/mic.0.001428
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Fernández-Martínez, L. T., Javelle, A., & Hoskisson, P. A. (2024). Microbial Primer: Bacterial growth kinetics: This article is part of the Microbial Primers collection. Microbiology. https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.001428