Carbohydrate-limited Growth Kinetics of Tobacco (Nicotiana rustica L.) Callus

Abstract
Logistic curves were fitted to sigmoidal growth data obtained from tobacco (Nicotiana rustica L.) callus grown on media prepared with 0.1, 0.03, 0.01 and 0.003 M sucrose. Analysis of the growth curves indicated that final yields and specific growth rates were influenced by the initial sucrose concentration. Growth yields from the 4 treatments were similar (0.61 .+-. 0.04 g dry tissue/g sucrose supplied). Initial specific growth rates exhibited a Michaelis-Menten dependency on initial sucrose concentration such that the Vmax = 0.18 g g-1 day-1 and Km = 0.0037 M sucrose.