THE STATISTICS OF COLONY FORMATION OF BACTERIAL CELLS

Abstract

The model tested in this report is that bacterial cells form colonies by chance and the probability of cells forming visible colonies in a time interval is determined by a parameter λ of a colony forming equation previously presented. An isolate from soil was used for a single population test. Cells in a freshly cultivated or starved population of the organism on parallel plates showed no significant departure from the value expected from the equation in increases in the number of colonies during successive time intervals. Mixed populations in soil and river samples showed similar colony forming behavior.