A scientist has been growing a bacterial strain for some time in culture media containing very few nutrients.The cells are growing slowly,so she enriches the media with amino acids and carbohydrates.To her dismay,instead of growing faster and to higher densities,the bacteria begin to die.What has caused this strange result?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The sudden death of bacteria after enriching the media with amino acids and carbohydrates suggests that the bacteria were infected with a temperate phage that has switched from the lysogenic cycle to the lytic cycle. This is known as induction, where the phage DNA is excised from the bacterial chromosome and enters the lytic cycle, causing the death of the cell. The addition of amino acids and carbohydrates may have triggered this induction.

A Scientist Has Been Growing a Bacterial Strain for Some