Determination of the biological parameters of bacterium-phage complexes

The authors present a method of measurement and evaluation for continuous cultures of bacteria infected by virulent phages. By the comparison of the model describing the phage-bacterium interaction and their own experimental data they determined the following biological parameter values characterizing the interaction: the adsorption rate (mu), the expectation of the latency period (T) and its standard deviation ((sigma), the time required for lysis (d), the infection efficiency (eta) and the average burst size (C). The parameters were used for the determination of optimal cultivating conditions (maximum phage yield).