Question

If an inoculum of a particular bacterial species were transferred to a shake flask containing a liquid growth medium lacking an essential nutrient, which growth pattern would likely be observed?

1) Exponential growth
2) Stationary growth
3) Decline in growth
4) No growth

Answer 1

If an inoculum of a particular bacterial species were transferred to a liquid growth medium lacking an essential nutrient, the likely growth pattern would be no growth.

Step-by-step explanation:

When an inoculum of a particular bacterial species is transferred to a shake flask containing a liquid growth medium lacking an essential nutrient, the most likely growth pattern to be observed is 4) No growth. In this scenario, without the essential nutrient present in the medium, the bacteria will not be able to grow and reproduce. Therefore, there will be no increase in cell numbers, resulting in no growth. The bacteria would initially try to grow, but due to the lack of an essential nutrient, they would not be able to sustain exponential growth. As the nutrient becomes limiting, the growth rate would slow down and eventually lead to a decline in growth.