The question is incomplete. The complete question is :
Glucose is the preferred carbon source for Escherichia coli bacteria. Researchers isolated E. coli-M, a strain of E. coli with a single mutation that inactivates a key enzyme in one of the three glycolytic pathways E. coli bacteria use to break down glucose. In an initial experiment to study the effect of the mutation on glucose utilization and ATP production by the bacteria, the researchers add 2×104 E. coli-M bacteria to 400 mL of a growth medium that contains glucose. To measure the rate of bacterial growth, they monitor the optical density of the culture as a measure of bacterial concentration over time.
(c) Predict the growth rate pattern of the E. coli-M bacteria when they are initially added to the growth medium if the mutation does not interfere with glucose utilization.
(d) Provide reasoning to justify your prediction.
Solution :
c). It is given that Glucose is preferred as the carbon source for the Escherichia coli bacteria or the E. coli-M bacteria. If the growth medium of the E. coli-M bacteria contains a higher concentration of the acetate, then the growth of the bacteria will inhibit without inhibiting the central metabolism.
d). This is predicted because as E. coli-M bacteria grows, it starts secreting acetate. This is known as overflow mechanism. The regulatory interactions mediated by the acetyl-phosphate that plays an important role in the inhibiting growth by the acetate.