Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 4, 2026

An Assay for Measuring the Effects of Ethanol on the Locomotion Speed of Caenorhabditis elegans
Published on: April 9, 2015
Growth inhibitory and lethal effects of ethanol on Escherichia coli
1Department of Chemical Engineering, Kanazawa University, Kodatsuno 2-40, Kanazawa 920, Japan.
Abstract:
The growth inhibitory and lethal effects of ethanol on Escherichia coli BB were investigated in batch cultures, by measuring total cell number, viable cell number, and cell mass concentration. Ethanol below ca. 50 g/L allowed exponential growth but depressed the specific growth rate. The effect of ethanol on the specific growth rate appeared to follow noncompetitive inhibition kinetics with apparently cooperative binding with a Hill coefficient of 2.5. The Hill coefficient and the inhibition constant were temperature independent over the range tested. Ethanol at 30 g/L decreased the growth yield. Ethanol enhanced the specific death rate in an experimental way. Stationary cell populations were more resistant than exponential ones but the degree of enhancement by ethanol was the same in both populations. Isopropanol and propanol also enhanced the specific death rate exponentially and the degree of enhancement was correlatedwith their membrane-buffer partition coefficients.
Related Concept Videos
Stringent Response in E. coli
Antimicrobial Effectiveness
Bioreactor Controls-III
Bacterial Gastroenteritis
Inhibitors of Bacterial Protein Synthesis
Inhibitors of Bacterial DNA Synthesis
