Determination of diauxic lag in continuous culture

A procedure was developed to characterize diauxic lag of bacteria switching between electron acceptors in continuous culture. In this procedure, a virtual batch growth curve is developed by integrating the time-dependent net specific growth rates of bacteria observed under continuous flow conditions. The length of diauxic lag and the highest net specific growth rate following lag are conveniently estimated from the virtual batch curve. The procedure was found to give reproducible diauxic lag lengths and highest net specific growth rates when applied to experimental data from replicate continuous culture trials.