I know that in most of the cases the RPM chosen to shake the bacteria while growing is overall 180. I grew S.aureus with 120 rpm and now I need to do replicates. I am hesitating with RPM. shall I use again 120 to follow same condition or can I adjust to 180 and what are the drawbacks!
thanks
The RPM for the shaker is not a strictly defined value and is really all about getting good aeration in the cultures. So the size of the flask and the volume of liquid in the flask are just if not more important.
My guess is you won't see much difference between 120 and 180 for the same flask size/volume but yes you should try to use identical conditions if you want to replicate.
Shaking creates healthy aeration for culture and prevents the bacteria from settling down on the bottom of the flask or tube. Normally 150-250 rpm is the ideal range for aerobic bacteria, but one can also increase or decrease depending on his/her experiment. I think that there will be no problem if one uses less than 180 if the cells are kept in suspension at any reasonable speed which does not cause foaming.
So you can use the same conditions as before to replicate the previous experiment.
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