Quantitative relationships for specific growth rates and macromolecular compositions of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2) and Escherichia coli B/r: an integrative theoretical approach

Microbiology ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 150 (5) ◽  
pp. 1413-1426 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert A. Cox

Further understanding of the physiological states of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and other mycobacteria was sought through comparisons with the genomic properties and macromolecular compositions of Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2), grown at 30 °C, and Escherichia coli B/r, grown at 37 °C. A frame of reference was established based on quantitative relationships observed between specific growth rates (μ) of cells and their macromolecular compositions. The concept of a schematic cell based on transcription/translation coupling, average genes and average proteins was developed to provide an instantaneous view of macromolecular synthesis carried out by cells growing at their maximum rate. It was inferred that the ultra-fast growth of E. coli results from its ability to increase the average number of rRNA (rrn) operons per cell through polyploidy, thereby increasing its capacity for ribosome synthesis. The maximum growth rate of E. coli was deduced to be limited by the rate of uptake and consumption of nutrients providing energy. Three characteristic properties of S. coelicolor A3(2) growing optimally (μ=0·30 h−1) were identified. First, the rate of DNA replication was found to approach the rate reported for E. coli (μ=1·73 h−1); secondly, all rrn operons were calculated to be fully engaged in precursor-rRNA synthesis; thirdly, compared with E. coli, protein synthesis was found to depend on higher concentrations of ribosomes and lower concentrations of aminoacyl-tRNA and EF-Tu. An equation was derived for E. coli B/r relating μ to the number of rrn operons per genome. Values of μ=0·69 h−1 and μ=1·00 h−1 were obtained respectively for cells with one or two rrn operons per genome. Using the author's equation relating the number of rrn operons per genome to maximum growth rate, it is expected that M. tuberculosis with one rrn operon should be capable of growing much faster than it actually does. Therefore, it is suggested that the high number of insertion sequences in this species attenuates growth rate to still lower values.

2006 ◽  
Vol 72 (4) ◽  
pp. 2586-2593 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Berney ◽  
Hans-Ulrich Weilenmann ◽  
Julian Ihssen ◽  
Claudio Bassin ◽  
Thomas Egli

ABSTRACT Knowledge about the sensitivity of the test organism is essential for the evaluation of any disinfection method. In this work we show that sensitivity of Escherichia coli MG1655 to three physical stresses (mild heat, UVA light, and sunlight) that are relevant in the disinfection of drinking water with solar radiation is determined by the specific growth rate of the culture. Batch- and chemostat-cultivated cells from cultures with similar specific growth rates showed similar stress sensitivities. Generally, fast-growing cells were more sensitive to the stresses than slow-growing cells. For example, slow-growing chemostat-cultivated cells (D = 0.08 h−1) and stationary-phase bacteria from batch culture that were exposed to mild heat had very similar T 90 (time until 90% of the population is inactivated) values (T 90, chemostat = 2.66 h; T 90, batch = 2.62 h), whereas T 90 for cells growing at a μ of 0.9 h−1 was 0.2 h. We present evidence that the stress sensitivity of E. coli is correlated with the intracellular level of the alternative sigma factor RpoS. This is also supported by the fact that E. coli rpoS mutant cells were more stress sensitive than the parent strain by factors of 4.9 (mild heat), 5.3 (UVA light), and 4.1 (sunlight). Furthermore, modeling of inactivation curves with GInaFiT revealed that the shape of inactivation curves changed depending on the specific growth rate. Inactivation curves of cells from fast-growing cultures (μ = 1.0 h−1) that were irradiated with UVA light showed a tailing effect, while for slow-growing cultures (μ = 0.3 h−1), inactivation curves with shoulders were obtained. Our findings emphasize the need for accurate reporting of specific growth rates and detailed culture conditions in disinfection studies to allow comparison of data from different studies and laboratories and sound interpretation of the data obtained.


1988 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 261-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
Max L. Bothwell

Phosphate enrichment experiments were conducted year-round at the experimental troughs research apparatus (EXTRA) on the South Thompson River in British Columbia to determine the relationship between external concentration of orthophosphate and the growth rates of lotic periphytic diatom communities. Growth rate saturation always occurred at a phosphate concentration of approximately 0.3–0.6 μg P∙L−1. The maximum growth rate (μmax-P) with phosphorus enrichment varied seasonally with temperature. The relative specific growth rates (μ:μmax-P) as a function of external phosphate were constant. Seasonal changes in solar insolation (PAR) had no effect on the autotrophic community growth rates in unamended river water. Temperature exerted the most dominant influence on phosphorus-replete growth rates.


2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 1056-1062 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saeid Rezaeinejad ◽  
Volodymyr Ivanov

The physiological differences of individual cells of bacterial population may imply the existence of cell subpopulations with different sensitivity to chlorine, which may affect the efficiency of drinking water disinfection. The susceptibility of individual bacterial cells to chlorine was examined using flow cytometry. The inactivation of Escherichia coli cells by chlorine in the populations with specific growth rates of 0.2 and 0.9 h−1 was assessed using various viability indicators. Viability of bacterial cells was evaluated using membrane integrity propidium iodide (PI) dye, respiratory activity indicator of 5-cyano-2,3-ditolyl tetrazolium chloride (CTC) and membrane potential probe of DiBAC4(3). It was found that there were cell subpopulations of E. coli with different levels of susceptibility to chlorine. E. coli cell population with higher specific growth rate was more susceptible to chlorine. The CT values for inactivation of 99% of cells (CT99) in populations of E. coli with specific growth rates of 0.9 and 0.2 h−1 were 0.06 and 0.09 mg min l−1, respectively. Flow cytometry could be used to study the sensitivity of bacterial cells to the chemical agents.


Author(s):  
D.F. Houlihan ◽  
K. Kelly ◽  
P.R. Boyle

Octopuses (Eledone cirrhosa (Octopoda: Cephalopoda)) held in an aquarium were subjected to varying conditions of feeding and starvation to evaluate putative indices of feeding and growth. Specific growth rate (%d−1) was linearly related to feeding rate (% of the body mass d−1) in animals with a mean body mass of 250 g at 15°C. Maximum growth rates varied between > 2% d−1 (body weights < 300 g) to < 1% d−1 (body weights ≤ 900 g) but specific growth rates were not related to body weight. Growth rates became negative (weight loss) after one week without food.The digestive gland index (DGI) was significantly correlated with short and long-term feeding and specific growth rates, and with body weight. Muscle RNA concentration was linearly correlated with growth rate during the previous 1–3 weeks but not with feeding rate. RNA:protein ratios were not different between mid-arm and mantle sample sites but arm tip values were significantly higher. RNA:protein ratio was related to body weight only in feeding animals. It is concluded that DGI is an index of feeding rate and that RNA:protein ratio can be used as an index of recent (~ 4 weeks) growth rate.


1978 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. L. Monteith

SUMMARYFigures for maximum crop growth rates, reviewed by Gifford (1974), suggest that the productivity of C3 and C4 species is almost indistinguishable. However, close inspection of these figures at source and correspondence with several authors revealed a number of errors. When all unreliable figures were discarded, the maximum growth rate for C3 stands fell in the range 34–39 g m−2 d−1 compared with 50–54 g m−2 d−1 for C4 stands. Maximum growth rates averaged over the whole growing season showed a similar difference: 13 g m−2 d−1 for C3 and 22 g m−2 d−1 for C4. These figures correspond to photosynthetic efficiencies of approximately 1·4 and 2·0%.


2013 ◽  
Vol 10 (8) ◽  
pp. 5267-5280 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. H. Chang ◽  
E. C. Marquis ◽  
C. W. Chang ◽  
G. C. Gong ◽  
C. H. Hsieh

Abstract. Allometric scaling of body size versus growth rate and mortality has been suggested to be a universal macroecological pattern, as described by the metabolic theory of ecology (MTE). However, whether such scaling generally holds in natural assemblages remains debated. Here, we test the hypothesis that the size-specific growth rate and grazing mortality scale with the body size with an exponent of −1/4 after temperature correction, as MTE predicts. To do so, we couple a dilution experiment with the FlowCAM imaging system to obtain size-specific growth rates and grazing mortality of natural microphytoplankton assemblages in the East China Sea. This novel approach allows us to achieve highly resolved size-specific measurements that would be very difficult to obtain in traditional size-fractionated measurements using filters. Our results do not support the MTE prediction. On average, the size-specific growth rates and grazing mortality scale almost isometrically with body size (with scaling exponent ∼0.1). However, this finding contains high uncertainty, as the size-scaling exponent varies substantially among assemblages. The fact that size-scaling exponent varies among assemblages prompts us to further investigate how the variation of size-specific growth rate and grazing mortality can interact to determine the microphytoplankton size structure, described by normalized biomass size spectrum (NBSS), among assemblages. We test whether the variation of microphytoplankton NBSS slopes is determined by (1) differential grazing mortality of small versus large individuals, (2) differential growth rate of small versus large individuals, or (3) combinations of these scenarios. Our results indicate that the ratio of the grazing mortality of the large size category to that of the small size category best explains the variation of NBSS slopes across environments, suggesting that higher grazing mortality of large microphytoplankton may release the small phytoplankton from grazing, which in turn leads to a steeper NBSS slope. This study contributes to understanding the relative importance of bottom-up versus top-down control in shaping microphytoplankton size structure.


1998 ◽  
Vol 64 (11) ◽  
pp. 4226-4233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pim Van Hoek ◽  
Johannes P. Van Dijken ◽  
Jack T. Pronk

ABSTRACT The specific growth rate is a key control parameter in the industrial production of baker’s yeast. Nevertheless, quantitative data describing its effect on fermentative capacity are not available from the literature. In this study, the effect of the specific growth rate on the physiology and fermentative capacity of an industrialSaccharomyces cerevisiae strain in aerobic, glucose-limited chemostat cultures was investigated. At specific growth rates (dilution rates, D) below 0.28 h−1, glucose metabolism was fully respiratory. Above this dilution rate, respirofermentative metabolism set in, with ethanol production rates of up to 14 mmol of ethanol · g of biomass−1 · h−1at D = 0.40 h−1. A substantial fermentative capacity (assayed offline as ethanol production rate under anaerobic conditions) was found in cultures in which no ethanol was detectable (D < 0.28 h−1). This fermentative capacity increased with increasing dilution rates, from 10.0 mmol of ethanol · g of dry yeast biomass−1 · h−1 at D= 0.025 h−1 to 20.5 mmol of ethanol · g of dry yeast biomass−1 · h−1 atD = 0.28 h−1. At even higher dilution rates, the fermentative capacity showed only a small further increase, up to 22.0 mmol of ethanol · g of dry yeast biomass−1 · h−1 at D= 0.40 h−1. The activities of all glycolytic enzymes, pyruvate decarboxylase, and alcohol dehydrogenase were determined in cell extracts. Only the in vitro activities of pyruvate decarboxylase and phosphofructokinase showed a clear positive correlation with fermentative capacity. These enzymes are interesting targets for overexpression in attempts to improve the fermentative capacity of aerobic cultures grown at low specific growth rates.


mBio ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie S. Forsyth ◽  
Chelsie E. Armbruster ◽  
Sara N. Smith ◽  
Ali Pirani ◽  
A. Cody Springman ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTUropathogenicEscherichia coli(UPEC) strains cause most uncomplicated urinary tract infections (UTIs). These strains are a subgroup of extraintestinal pathogenicE. coli(ExPEC) strains that infect extraintestinal sites, including urinary tract, meninges, bloodstream, lungs, and surgical sites. Here, we hypothesize that UPEC isolates adapt to and grow more rapidly within the urinary tract than otherE. coliisolates and survive in that niche. To date, there has not been a reliable method available to measure their growth ratein vivo. Here we used two methods: segregation of nonreplicating plasmid pGTR902, and peak-to-trough ratio (PTR), a sequencing-based method that enumerates bacterial chromosomal replication forks present during cell division. In the murine model of UTI, UPEC strain growth was robustin vivo, matching or exceedingin vitrogrowth rates and only slowing after reaching high CFU counts at 24 and 30 h postinoculation (hpi). In contrast, asymptomatic bacteriuria (ABU) strains tended to maintain high growth ratesin vivoat 6, 24, and 30 hpi, and population densities did not increase, suggesting that host responses or elimination limited population growth. Fecal strains displayed moderate growth rates at 6 hpi but did not survive to later times. By PTR,E. coliin urine of human patients with UTIs displayed extraordinarily rapid growth during active infection, with a mean doubling time of 22.4 min. Thus, in addition to traditional virulence determinants, including adhesins, toxins, iron acquisition, and motility, very high growth ratesin vivoand resistance to the innate immune response appear to be critical phenotypes of UPEC strains.IMPORTANCEUropathogenicEscherichia coli(UPEC) strains cause most urinary tract infections in otherwise healthy women. While we understand numerous virulence factors are utilized byE. colito colonize and persist within the urinary tract, these properties are inconsequential unless bacteria can divide rapidly and survive the host immune response. To determine the contribution of growth rate to successful colonization and persistence, we employed two methods: one involving the segregation of a nonreplicating plasmid in bacteria as they divide and the peak-to-trough ratio, a sequencing-based method that enumerates chromosomal replication forks present during cell division. We found that UPEC strains divide extraordinarily rapidly during human UTIs. These techniques will be broadly applicable to measurein vivogrowth rates of other bacterial pathogens during host colonization.


Microbiology ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 151 (1) ◽  
pp. 135-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tiina M. Pakula ◽  
Katri Salonen ◽  
Jaana Uusitalo ◽  
Merja Penttilä

Trichoderma reesei was cultivated in chemostat cultures on lactose-containing medium. The cultures were characterized for growth, consumption of the carbon source and protein production. Secreted proteins were produced most efficiently at low specific growth rates, 0·022–0·033 h−1, the highest specific rate of total protein production being 4·1 mg g−1 h−1 at the specific growth rate 0·031 h−1. At low specific growth rates, up to 29 % of the proteins produced were extracellular, in comparison to only 6–8 % at high specific growth rates, 0·045–0·066 h−1. To analyse protein synthesis and secretion in more detail, metabolic labelling of proteins was applied to analyse production of the major secreted protein, cellobiohydrolase I (CBHI, Cel7A). Intracellular and extracellular labelled CBHI was quantified and analysed for pI isoforms in two-dimensional gels, and the synthesis and secretion rates of the molecule were determined. Both the specific rates of CBHI synthesis and secretion were highest at low specific growth rates, the optimum being at 0·031 h−1. However, at low specific growth rates the secretion rate/synthesis rate ratio was significantly lower than that at high specific growth rates, indicating that at low growth rates the capacity of cells to transport the protein becomes limiting. In accordance with the high level of protein production and limitation in the secretory capacity, the transcript levels of the unfolded protein response (UPR) target genes pdi1 and bip1 as well as the gene encoding the UPR transcription factor hac1 were induced.


2013 ◽  
Vol 81 (8) ◽  
pp. 2733-2742 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandre Bleibtreu ◽  
Pierre-Alexis Gros ◽  
Cédric Laouénan ◽  
Olivier Clermont ◽  
Hervé Le Nagard ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTThe extraintestinal virulence ofEscherichia coliis dependent on numerous virulence genes. However, there is growing evidence for a role of the metabolic properties and stress responses of strains in pathogenesis. We assessed the respective roles of these factors in strain virulence by developing phenotypic assays for measuringin vitroindividual and competitive fitness and the general stress response, which we applied to 82 commensal and extraintestinal pathogenicE. colistrains previously tested in a mouse model of sepsis. Individual fitness properties, in terms of maximum growth rates in various media (Luria-Bertani broth with and without iron chelator, minimal medium supplemented with gluconate, and human urine) and competitive fitness properties, estimated as the mean relative growth rate per generation in mixed cultures with a reference fluorescentE. colistrain, were highly diverse between strains. The activity of the main general stress response regulator, RpoS, as determined by iodine staining of the colonies, H2O2resistance, andrpoSsequencing, was also highly variable. No correlation between strain fitness and stress resistance and virulence in the mouse model was found, except that the maximum growth rate in urine was higher for virulent strains. Multivariate analysis showed that the number of virulence factors was the only independent factor explaining the virulence in mice. At the species level, growth capacity and stress resistance are heterogeneous properties that do not contribute significantly to the intrinsic virulence of the strains.


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