A Comparison Between Wild-Type and Mutated Bacteria Population Sizes

by Paige DePagter

Submitted : Fall 2013

Mutations play a significant role in the size of a population and the rate at which bacteria reproduce. We analyze the relationship between the population size of a mutated bacteria and the population size of a wild-type bacteria by setting up a ratio through analytically solving the logistic growth equation. It is determined that only the growth rate of the bacterial populations, more specifically the death rate and birth rate, plays a significant role on the growth of the population and that the bacteria population with the greatest birth rate- death rate difference will be the dominant population, and thus make up the majority of the total population.

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