Comparison of optical density-based growth kinetics for pure culture and grown in blood-free Bolton broth.

growth kinetic parameters can be used to refine the sensitivity and efficiency of microbial growth-based methods. Therefore, the aim of this study was to construct growth curves for , , and in pure culture and calculate growth kinetics for each species in the same environmental conditions. , and were grown over 48 h and inoculated into 15 mL Hungate tubes ( = 3 trials per species; 5 biological replicates per trial; 3 species; 1 strain per species). Absorbance measurements were taken in 45 min intervals over 24 h. Optical density readings were plotted versus time to calculate growth kinetic parameters. exhibited the longest lag phase ( < 0.001) at 15 h 20 min ± 30 min, versus at 11 h 15 min ± 17 min, and at 9 h 27 min ± 15 min. The exponential phase duration was no longer than 5 h for all species, and doubling times were all less than 1h 30 min. The variation in growth kinetics for the three species of illustrates the importance of determining individual spp. growth responses for optimizing detection based on low bacterial levels. This study provides kinetics and estimates to define enrichment times necessary for low concentration detection.