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Importance of the generation time in microbiological experiments

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Abstract

The bacterial and tissue cells can grow in batch and continuous culture. In batch culture the cells have different physiological states during incubation. The generation time changes from time to time during growth, except in the exponential phase. In continuous culture the cell growth takes place under steady-state conditions. In different steady-states the generation times reached remain constant at a certain level. This paper presents evidence of how the generation time influences the cell size, the chain formation, the multiplication of viruses, the development of competence both in transformation and transfection and the quantitative changes of lytic factor. In the experiments it is necessary to give the values of the generation times. This parameter helps the experimenters to compare the results and to avoid some errors in their conclusions.

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Horváth, S. Importance of the generation time in microbiological experiments. Folia Microbiol 15, 259–266 (1970). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02869052

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02869052

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