Comparison of optical density-based growth kinetics for pure culture Campylobacter jejuni, coli and lari grown in blood-free Bolton broth

AbstractCampylobacter growth kinetic parameters can be used to refine the sensitivity and efficiency of microbial growth-based methods. Therefore, the aim of this study was to construct growth curves for C. jejuni, C. coli, and C. lari in pure culture and calculate growth kinetics for each Campylobacter species in the same environmental conditions. Campylobacter jejuni, C. coli and C. lari were grown over 48 h and inoculated into 15 mL Hungate tubes (N = 3 trials per species; 5 biological replicates per trial; 3 species; 1 strain per species). Absorbance measurements were taken in 45 min intervals over 24 h. Optical density readings were plotted versus time to calculate growth kinetic parameters. C. jejuni exhibited the longest lag phase (p < 0.001) at 15 h 20 min ± 30 min, versus C. coli at 11 h 15 min ± 17 min, and C. lari at 9 h 27 min ± 15 min. The exponential phase duration was no longer than 5 h for all species, and doubling times were all less than 1h 30 min. The variation in growth kinetics for the three species of Campylobacter illustrates the importance of determining individual Campylobacter spp. growth responses for optimizing detection based on low bacterial levels. This study provides kinetics and estimates to define enrichment times necessary for low concentration Campylobacter detection.Keywords: Campylobactergrowth kineticsoptical densityenrichmentmedia AcknowledgementsThe authors would like to thank the Department of Food Science at the University of Arkansas, Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences at the University of Wisconsin, and Hygiena (2 Boulden Circle, New Castle, DE, USA) for their financial support of author ARB.Data availability statementThe data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author (SCR) upon reasonable request.Additional informationFundingThe author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.