I have worked determining colony forming units with some bacteria and the maximum amount of cells I could find was 10 to the 9th, almost 10^10 CFU/ml, in rare occasions. However, a researcher sent me some data that he found counts of S. aureus on growth media aproaching 10 to 13 CFU/ml!
Can anyone confirm that? I found it a bit too high!
Dear Uelinton Pinto,
Its maximum possible quantity of saturated culture of S.aureus, because their cell volume is smoller then 1 cubic mkm and as we know 1 ml may contain 1000000000000 cubic mkm. See page 102 of this book: https://books.google.com.ua/books?id=YqFMQn5UtGQC&pg=PA102&lpg=PA102&dq=staphylococcus+aureus+cubic+micrometer&source=bl&ots=POywxWIBkS&sig=eUxSdmZ6Is7i8BE6NwXK3Ed1Nvo&hl=ru&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjA0cvKtNrPAhVrJJoKHW1jBB8Q6AEIVDAI#v=onepage&q=staphylococcus%20aureus%20cubic%20micrometer&f=false
The most I have seen in liquid media with most microbes that are not in a fermentor situation is about 3 billion per ml.
The situation would be different with a fermentor- type approach and perhaps solid media where each colony would have enormous populations (but you would have to harvest the colonies and then re-plate in a small about of diluent). In a fermentor situation, where one is neutralizing toxic metabolities and adding oxygen those number may be achievable on a per ml basis. Concentrated frozen starter cultures could be at such levels.
Thanks everyone! I share with you the same opinion and I do think that if you grow on a fermentator, the cell number could be higher, but in batch culture I still think that 10E10 would be the most we would see.
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