The kinetics of Escherichia coli B growth and bacteriophage T4 multiplication in SM-1 novel minimal culture medium.

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to develop a minimal medium for the cultivation of Escherichia coli B, which could be especially suitable for the industrial propagation of bacteriophage T4. The new defined, minimal SM-1 culture medium, contains free amino acids as the only nitrogen source and enables the bacteria generation time to be prolonged and satisfactory phage titers to be achieved. The presence of organic ingredients, such as meat extracts, yeast hydrolysates, enzymatic protein hydrolysates, in a culture medium may cause problems in the case of bacteria or phage cultures for therapeutic purposes. In the present study, we introduce a new medium, together with some procedures and applications for its usage. We also present new kinetics of E. coli B growth. Some traits such as the lack of high molecular proteins, a bacterial growth comparable to that in a rich medium, and the cost effectiveness of the medium, makes it highly competitive with currently used microbiological media. The surprisingly high titers of bacteriophage T4 obtained in our experiments suggest that SM-1 medium has the potential to find a broad application in medicine, especially in infectious disease therapy, pharmacy and biotechnology.