The Survival of Bacteria under Starvation Conditions: a Mathematical Expression of Microbial Death

Microbial death was studied under starvation conditions. The kinetics of cell death were described by dN/dt = κN α+1, where N is the number of viable cells at time t and κ and α are constants concerning growth or death of bacteria. Death in the decline phase ofthe culture also fitted the above equation, except for irregular oscillations with relatively short periods. This suggested that bacterial death in the decline phase was mainly caused by the same factor(s) as death under starvation conditions.