Assessment of survival during starvation ofEscherichia coli andKlebsiella pneumoniae in artificial urine: analysis of the kinetics of colony formation

A kinetic model of colony formation was proposed by Hattori, based on a count of the colonies that appear on a plate in successive short intervals of time. In this model, three parameters (,t_r and N) are defined, which reflect the ability of a bacterium to yield colonies and allow us to described the dynamics of bacterial populations in soil and ofE. coli at different growth phases. In this paper we report a reparametrization of the kinetic model of colony formation, with the aim of facilitating more accurate calculation of andt_r. Moreover, we observed that during the starvation ofE. coli andK. pneumoniae in urine, can be used to assess survival, since this parameter clearly decreases during starvation. Retardation time values (t_r) were similar inE. coli andK. pneumoniae throughout the starvation experimental period.