On the relation between dry matter and volume of bacteria

Abstract
Dry matter and volumes of 337 individual bacterial cells with volumes in the range 0.01–7μm3 from different origins were measured. An allometric relation was established between dry matter and volume, such that smaller bacteria tended to have a higher dry matter to volume ratio than larger bacteria. The results are compared to results from similar work on algae. The implications for the use of conversion factors are discussed.