On the lag phase and initial decline of microbial growth curves

The lag phase is generally thought to be a period during which the cells adjust to a new environment before the onset of exponential growth. Characterizing the lag phase in microbial growth curves has importance in food sciences, environmental sciences, bioremediation and in understanding basic cellular processes. The goal of this work is to extend the analysis of cell growth curves and to better estimate the duration of the lag phase. A non-autonomous model is presented that includes actively duplicating cells and two subclasses of non-duplicating cells. The growth curves depend on the growth and death rate of these three subpopulations and on the initial proportion of each. A deterministic and a stochastic model are both developed and give the same results. A notable feature of the model is the decline of cells during the early stage of the growth curve, and the range of parameters when this decline occurs is identified. A limited growth model is also presented that accounts for the lag, exponential growth and stationary phase of microbial growth curves.