Answer to Question #247357 in Microbiology for CARLOS

Question

Consider the growth of microorganism in batch culture, inoculated at a biomass concentration of 0.1g/L growing as the limiting substrate with the initial concentration S_° =10 g/L. After a lag time of 3 h, the culture grows exponentially with a minimum doubling time of 2h. Stationary phase is reached after a total time of 14 h. Assume that there was no death phase. Calculate the total time in culture to reach stationary phase if S_° were 2g/L, assuming that this concentration is also sufficient to support maximal growth (i.e., S>>Ks over the entire fermentation). 

Answer 1

The luciferase enzyme in fireflies catalyzes the modification of luciferin, consuming both luciferin and ATP, and producing light (you can probably guess the function of this reaction). Assuming ATP is in excess, the reaction follows the Briggs-Haldane mechanism, with luciferin as the limiting substrate.