A loopful of bacteria containing 1000 bacterial cells is inoculated into a nutrient broth and incubated. After a negligible lag phase, the culture goes into exponential growth for two hours. The generation time for the bacterium is ?fteen minutes. Which equation is the correct one to determine the number of cells present after two hours of log phase growth?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The generation time is 15 minutes, so in two hours (120 minutes), there are 8 generations (120/15 = 8). The number of cells doubles every generation, so the equation is 1000 X 2^8.

A Loopful of Bacteria Containing 1000 Bacterial Cells Is Inoculated