Investigation into Generational Time of Escherichia coli

by Varghese Manjaly

Submitted : Fall 2012

In this experiment the generational time, or the rate at which Escherichia coli doubled was investigated. The cells were grown in Lysogeny Broth inside a clear flask, a common solution used in research labs to grow bacterial cells, and at each hour over an eight hour period, the amount of cells in the flask was counted by a machine, and recorded. Thus using the results from this experiment, the generational time was calculated to be about 48.92 minutes, which is more than twice the normal amount of time needed for E. coli growing in optimal conditions. As such the use of a different broth to grow bacterial cells should be looked at, as the rate of growth of E. coli cells in LB broth is much slower than needed.

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