THE EFFECT OF STARVATION FACTOR ON THE SURVIVAL CHARACTERISTICS OF FLEXIBACTER CHINENSIS*

Abstract

To survive in natural waters, bacteria must respond to a variety of environmental variables such asstarvation. Flexibacter chinensis was grown and multiplied in the starvation medium and its viable count, totalcount and cell size were investigated under different temperatures. Also, the effects of different nutrientsources were investigated. The survival of the organism under starvation conditions was temperaturedependent with the longest survival occurring at 4°C and the shortest at above 30°C. Amendments ofstarvation medium with glucose or urea (as carbon and nitrogen source respectively) delayed the reduction incell size and increased the survival time of F. chinensis at a number of different temperatures