How to predict growth of bacterial population

The generation time, which varies among bacteria, is controlled by many environmental conditions and by the nature of the bacterial species. For example, Clostridium perfringens, one of the fastest-growing bacteria, has an optimum generation time of about 10 minutes; Escherichia coli can double every 20 minutes; and the slow-growing Mycobacterium tuberculosis has a generation time in the range of 12 to 16 hours. Some researchers have suggested that certain bacteria populations living deep below Earth’s surface may grow at extremely slow rates, reproducing just once every several thousand years. The composition of the growth medium is a major factor controlling the growth rate. The growth rate increases up to a maximum when the medium provides a better energy source and more of the biosynthetic intermediates that the cell would otherwise have to make for itself. #BacterialGrowth #exponentialGrowth #bacterialColony