Reconsidering Dogmas about the Growth of Bacterial Populations
The growth of bacterial populations has been described as a dynamic process of continuous reproduction and cell death. However, this is far from the reality. In a well fed, growing bacterial population, the stationary phase inevitably occurs, and it is not due to accumulated toxins or cell death. A...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2023-05-01
|
| Series: | Cells |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4409/12/10/1430 |
| _version_ | 1797600678678364160 |
|---|---|
| author | Bettina Ughy Sarolta Nagyapati Dezi B. Lajko Tamas Letoha Adam Prohaszka Dima Deeb Andras Der Aladar Pettko-Szandtner Laszlo Szilak |
| author_facet | Bettina Ughy Sarolta Nagyapati Dezi B. Lajko Tamas Letoha Adam Prohaszka Dima Deeb Andras Der Aladar Pettko-Szandtner Laszlo Szilak |
| author_sort | Bettina Ughy |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The growth of bacterial populations has been described as a dynamic process of continuous reproduction and cell death. However, this is far from the reality. In a well fed, growing bacterial population, the stationary phase inevitably occurs, and it is not due to accumulated toxins or cell death. A population spends the most time in the stationary phase, where the phenotype of the cells alters from the proliferating ones, and only the colony forming unit (CFU) decreases after a while, not the total cell concentration. A bacterial population can be considered as a virtual tissue as a result of a specific differentiation process, in which the exponential-phase cells develop to stationary-phase cells and eventually reach the unculturable form. The richness of the nutrient had no effect on growth rate or on stationary cell density. The generation time seems not to be a constant value, but it depended on the concentration of the starter cultures. Inoculations with serial dilutions of stationary populations reveal a so-called minimal stationary cell concentration (MSCC) point, up to which the cell concentrations remain constant upon dilutions; that seems to be universal among unicellular organisms. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T03:51:15Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f5c232469558497f8cbc4260331585d3 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2073-4409 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T03:51:15Z |
| publishDate | 2023-05-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Cells |
| spelling | doaj.art-f5c232469558497f8cbc4260331585d32023-11-18T00:53:30ZengMDPI AGCells2073-44092023-05-011210143010.3390/cells12101430Reconsidering Dogmas about the Growth of Bacterial PopulationsBettina Ughy0Sarolta Nagyapati1Dezi B. Lajko2Tamas Letoha3Adam Prohaszka4Dima Deeb5Andras Der6Aladar Pettko-Szandtner7Laszlo Szilak8Institute of Plant Biology, Biological Research Centre, Eötvös Loránd Research Network, H-6726 Szeged, HungaryInstitute of Plant Biology, Biological Research Centre, Eötvös Loránd Research Network, H-6726 Szeged, HungaryInstitute of Plant Biology, Biological Research Centre, Eötvös Loránd Research Network, H-6726 Szeged, HungaryPharmacoIdea Ltd., H-6726 Szeged, HungaryInstitute of Plant Biology, Biological Research Centre, Eötvös Loránd Research Network, H-6726 Szeged, HungaryInstitute of Plant Biology, Biological Research Centre, Eötvös Loránd Research Network, H-6726 Szeged, HungaryInstitute of Biophysics, Biological Research Centre, Eötvös Loránd Research Network, H-6726 Szeged, HungaryLaboratory of Proteomic Research, Biological Research Centre, Eötvös Loránd Research Network, H-6726 Szeged, HungaryInstitute of Plant Biology, Biological Research Centre, Eötvös Loránd Research Network, H-6726 Szeged, HungaryThe growth of bacterial populations has been described as a dynamic process of continuous reproduction and cell death. However, this is far from the reality. In a well fed, growing bacterial population, the stationary phase inevitably occurs, and it is not due to accumulated toxins or cell death. A population spends the most time in the stationary phase, where the phenotype of the cells alters from the proliferating ones, and only the colony forming unit (CFU) decreases after a while, not the total cell concentration. A bacterial population can be considered as a virtual tissue as a result of a specific differentiation process, in which the exponential-phase cells develop to stationary-phase cells and eventually reach the unculturable form. The richness of the nutrient had no effect on growth rate or on stationary cell density. The generation time seems not to be a constant value, but it depended on the concentration of the starter cultures. Inoculations with serial dilutions of stationary populations reveal a so-called minimal stationary cell concentration (MSCC) point, up to which the cell concentrations remain constant upon dilutions; that seems to be universal among unicellular organisms.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4409/12/10/1430population growthstationary phaseexponential phasedifferentiationtransitiongeneration time |
| spellingShingle | Bettina Ughy Sarolta Nagyapati Dezi B. Lajko Tamas Letoha Adam Prohaszka Dima Deeb Andras Der Aladar Pettko-Szandtner Laszlo Szilak Reconsidering Dogmas about the Growth of Bacterial Populations Cells population growth stationary phase exponential phase differentiation transition generation time |
| title | Reconsidering Dogmas about the Growth of Bacterial Populations |
| title_full | Reconsidering Dogmas about the Growth of Bacterial Populations |
| title_fullStr | Reconsidering Dogmas about the Growth of Bacterial Populations |
| title_full_unstemmed | Reconsidering Dogmas about the Growth of Bacterial Populations |
| title_short | Reconsidering Dogmas about the Growth of Bacterial Populations |
| title_sort | reconsidering dogmas about the growth of bacterial populations |
| topic | population growth stationary phase exponential phase differentiation transition generation time |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4409/12/10/1430 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT bettinaughy reconsideringdogmasaboutthegrowthofbacterialpopulations AT saroltanagyapati reconsideringdogmasaboutthegrowthofbacterialpopulations AT deziblajko reconsideringdogmasaboutthegrowthofbacterialpopulations AT tamasletoha reconsideringdogmasaboutthegrowthofbacterialpopulations AT adamprohaszka reconsideringdogmasaboutthegrowthofbacterialpopulations AT dimadeeb reconsideringdogmasaboutthegrowthofbacterialpopulations AT andrasder reconsideringdogmasaboutthegrowthofbacterialpopulations AT aladarpettkoszandtner reconsideringdogmasaboutthegrowthofbacterialpopulations AT laszloszilak reconsideringdogmasaboutthegrowthofbacterialpopulations |