%0 Journal Article %A Anagnostopoulos, G. D. %T Unbalanced Growth in a Semi-continuous Culture System Designed for the Synchronization of Cell Division %D 1971 %J Microbiology, %V 65 %N 1 %P 23-33 %@ 1465-2080 %R https://doi.org/10.1099/00221287-65-1-23 %I Microbiology Society, %X SUMMARY: Synchronization of division of Escherichia coli was induced in a semi-continuous culture system. A small-scale apparatus designed for the automatic operation of the system is described. The carbon (glucose)-limited defined medium was supplied at intervals of 1 to 4 h. and half of the diluted culture was discharged. After a number of cycles the glucose supplied each time was just sufficient for the doubling of the ‘self-established’ population. A logarithmic loss of viability occurred at the beginning of each cycle in the presence of fresh medium, and it was thought that part of the population underwent unbalanced growth. This phenomenon and the observation that the viable population consisted of two equal parts dividing synchronously but at different times were thought to reflect a post-division unequal competence of the emerging two halves of the population to cope with the active growth induced by the incoming fresh medium. %U https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/micro/10.1099/00221287-65-1-23