Relationship between glucose utilization and growth rate in Bacillus subtilis.

The effect of growth rate on the rate of glucose utilization has been examined with a sporogenic and a weakly sporogenic strain of Bacillus subtilis by means of the continuous culture technique. Cultures were grown aerobically on a mineral salts medium with glucose as the carbon and energy source. During both nitrogen and l-tryptophan limitation, the rate of glucose consumption (milligrams of glucose per hour per milligrams of cells) decreased when the growth rate was decreased. The coupling between the rate of glucose disappearance and the growth rate was estimated as 76 to 86% during nitrogen limitation and as 60 to 78% during tryptophan limitation. Sporulation had no detectable influence on the coupling.