Lect. 5 (factors affecting microbial growth)

General Microbiology for 2nd year biology departments

1. neral Microbiology
(B204)

Dr.Ghada Samir Abou El-Wafa
Lecturer of Microbiology
Botany Department
Faculty of Science
Mansoura University

2. Factors Affecting Microbial Growth

4. The requirements for microbial growth
can be divided into two main
categories:

> Physical aspects such as temperature,
pH, and osmotic pressure, pressure
and radiation.

>Chemical requirements include
sources of carbon, nitrogen, sulfur,
phosphorus, oxygen, trace elements,
and organic growth factors.

5. *In fact, it is possible that
life could not have arisen
unless oxygen is present.
However, many current
forms of life have metabolic
systems that require oxygen
for aerobic respiration.

6. Toxic Forms of Oxygen

=

Singlet oxygen ('O,) is normal

molecular oxygen (0,) that has been
boosted into a higher-energy state and
is extremely reactive.

O,> + 0: +2H* —>H,0, + 0,

7. 3. The hydrogen peroxide produced in this
reaction contains the peroxide aniono, and is
also toxic.

Because the hydrogen peroxide produced during
normal aerobic respiration is toxic, microbes
have developed enzymes to neutralize it. The
most familiar of these is catalase, which
converts it into water and oxygen:

2 H,0, — 2 H,0 + O,

8. + The other enzyme that breaks down hydrogen
peroxide is peroxidase, which differs from
catalase in that its reaction does not produce
oxygen:

HO: + 2H* >2H,0

+ Another important form of reactive
oxygen, ozone (O)

9. 4. The hydroxyl radical (OH’) is
another intermediate form of oxygen
and probably the most reactive.

It is formed in the cellular cytoplasm
by ionizing radiation. Most aerobic
respiration produces traces of
hydroxyl radicals, but they are
transient.

10. Tube of Soli
Growth
Median

1 Obigots Aerobes

a
lu

ba Focukative €: Obligate
Anaerobes Anaeroves

4

Anaerobes

+ Microserophiles

11. 1.Temperature

Microorganisms are classified into
three primary groups on the basis of
their preferred range of temperature:

+ Psychrophiles (cold-loving microbes).

+ Mesophiles (moderate-temperature-
loving microbes).

+ Thermophiles (heat-loving microbes).

12. Each bacterial species grows at particular
minimum, optimum, and maximum
temperatures.

The minimum growth temperature is the
lowest temperature at which the species will
grow.

The optimum growth temperature is the
temperature at which the species grows best.
The maximum growth temperature is the
highest temperature at which growth is
possible.

High temperature has inactivated necessary
enzymatic systems of the cell.

13. Rate of growth

Typical growth rates of different
types of microorganisms in response to
temperature. The peak of the curve represents
optimum growth (fastest reproduction). Notice that

the reproductive rate drops off very quickly at

temperatures only a little above the optimum. At either extreme of the temperature
range. the

much lower than the rate at the optimum temperature.

reproductive rate is

Thermophiles

Hyperthermophiles
Mosophllos

Psychrotn
Psychrophilo

30406060 70 00 90 100
Temperature (°C)

14. are groups that can
grow at 0°C has higher optimum
temperatures, usually at 20-30°C and
cannot grow above about 40°C.
Organisms of this type are much more
common than psychrophiles and are the
most likely to be encountered in low-
temperature food spoilage because they
grow fairly well at _ refrigerator
temperatures.

15. ‘Microbial Responses to Environmental Factors

16. * pH is a measure of the relative acidity
of a solution and is defined as the
negative logarithm of the hydrogen
ion concentration (expressed in terms
of molarity).

pH = —log [H*] = log( /[H*])

17. + Most bacteria grow best in a narrow pH range
near neutrality, between pH 6.5 and 7.5.

* Each species has a definite pH growth range
and pH growth optimum.

have their growth optimum
between pH 0 and 5.5;

between pH 5.5 and 8.0;

(alkaliphiles) , between pH 8.0
and 11.5.

have growth optima

at pH 10 or higher.

19. + Microorganisms obtain almost
all their nutrients in solution
from the surrounding water.
Thus, they require water for
growth, and their composition
is 80- 90% water.

20. High osmotic pressures have the effect of
removing necessary water from a cell.
When a microbial cell is in a solution
whose concentration of solutes is higher
than in the cell (the environment is
hypertonic to the cell ), the cellular water
passes out through the plasma
membrane to the high solute
concentration.

21. , have
adapted so well to high salt concentrations
that they actually require them for
growth.

, Which do not
require high salt concentrations but are
able to grow at salt concentrations up to
2%, a concentration that inhibits the
growth of many other organisms. A few
species of facultative halophiles can
tolerate even 15% salt.

22. » If the osmotic pressure is unusually

low (the environment is Hypotonic);
such as in distilled water; water

tends to enter the cell rather than

leave it.

23. + Organisms that spend their lives
on land or the surface of water are
always subjected to a pressure of 1
atmosphere (atm) and are never
affected significantly by pressure.

+ It is thought that high hydrostatic
pressure affects membrane fluidity
and membrane associated
function.

24. +» Many prokaryotes live in the
deep sea (ocean depths of
1,000m or more) where the
hydrostatic pressure can reach
600 to 1,100 atm and the
temperature is about 2 to 3°C.
Many of these procaryotes are

25. Some prokaryotes are
; they grow
more rapidly at high
pressures. grows only at
pressures between about
400 to 500 atm when
incubated at 2°C.