Generality of the growth kinetics of the average individual cell in different bacterial populations

The kinetics of growth of all the cells in a population is reflected in the shape of the size distribution of the population. To ascertain whether the kinetics of growth of the average individual cell is similar for different strains or growth conditions, we compared the shape of normalized size distributions obtained from steady-state populations. Significant differences in the size distributions were found, but these could be ascribed either to the precision achieved at division or to a constriction period which is long relative to the total cell cycle time. The remaining difference is quite small. Thus, without establishing the pattern itself, it is concluded that the basic course of growth is very similar for the various Escherichia coli strains examined and probably also for other rod-shaped bacteria. The effects of differences in culture technique (batch or chemostat culture), growth rate, and differences among strains were not found to influence the shape of the size distributions and hence the growth kinetics in a direct manner; small differences were found, but only when the precision at division or the fraction of constricted cells (long constriction period) were different as well.