STUDIES ON THE GROWTH OF MYCOBACTERIA .2. THE EFFECT OF OXYGENATION AND AERATION ON THE GROWTH PATTERN OF MYCOBACTERIA

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Abstract
Quantitative growth expts. were conducted in order to elucidate conditions responsible for occurrence of arithmetic linear growth of mycobacteria in liquid dispersing media. Earliest studies indicated that exhaustion of nutrients or accumulation of toxic products in the medium were not respnsible for occurrence of arithmetic linear growth. It was suspected that exhaustion of O2 in the medium might be the cause of this phenomenon. Results indicate that continuous aeration and oxygenation of the medium results in logarithmic growth for a prolonged period of time without occurrence of arithmetic linear growth. If aeration or oxygenation is discontinued after the culture has attained a critical concn., arithmetic linear growth will recur. Logarithmic growth can be reestablished by aeration or oxygenation of a culture in the arithmetic growth phase. Further expts. showed that as the O2tension is decreased during mycobacterial growth, the generation time of the organisms increased.