Question

Why are microbial doubling times in nature typically longer than those obtained in the laboratory? Discuss?

Answer 1

BACTERIAL DOUBLING TIME CAN BE ESTIMATED FOR MANY BACTERIAS IN THE LABORATORY,BUT IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO DIRECTLY MEASURE IT IN NATURAL ENVIRONMENT.AN ESTIMATE CAN BE OBTAINED BY MEASURING THE RATE AT WHICH BACTERIA ACCUMULATE MUTATIONS PER YEAR IN THE WILD AND MUTATIONS PER GENEEATIOGE IN THE LABORATORY.IF WE ASSUME MUTATIONS PER GENERATION IS THE SAME IN THE WILD AND IN LABORATORY,AND MUTATIONS ARE NEUTRAL,THE ASSUMPTION THAT WE SHOW IS NOT VERY IMPORTANT.THEN AN ESTIMATE OF DOUBLING TIME CAN BE OBTAINED BY DIVIDING THE LATTER BY THE FORMER.

We can estimate the doubling time of five species of bacteria for which we have mutation time and accumulation time estimate.We also infer the distribution time across all the bacterias from these distribution and mutation rates.THESE BOTH ANALYSIS SUGGESTS THAT , DISTRIBUTION TIME OF BACTERIA IN THE WILD IS GREATER THAN IN THE LAB.BECAUSE THEY VARY BY MAGNITUDE BY DIFFERENT SPECIES OF BACTERIA AND SUBSTANTIAL FRACTION OF BACTERIA DOUBLE VERY SLOWLY IN THE WILD.