Single-cell mass distributions reveal simple rules for achieving steady-state growth.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

Microbiologists have watched clear liquid turn cloudy for over 100 years. While the cloudiness of a culture is proportional to its total biomass, growth rates from optical density measurements are challenging to interpret when cells change size. Many bacteria adjust their size at different steady-state growth rates, but also when shifting between starvation and growth. Optical density cannot disentangle how mass is distributed among cells. Here, we use single-cell mass measurements to demonstrate that a population of cells in batch culture achieves a stable mass distribution for only a short period of time. Achieving steady-state growth in rich medium requires low initial biomass concentrations and enough time for individual cell mass accumulation and cell number increas

SUBMITTER: Roller BRK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10653891 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature