Abstract
Summary: Synchronous cultures of Escherichia coli B were produced under various environmental conditions. Analysis of the cell number data permitted the characterization of the generation time distribution for these organisms and the estimation of the mother-daughter generation time correlation coefficients. For all growth conditions, the distribution of generation times was found to be symmetrical with a coefficient of variation of 0.22. 0.02. The mother-daughter generation time correlation coefficient was significantly negative at doubling times between 40 and 64 min. However, the results for a culture growing in succinate medium at 37.C, which had a significantly greater generation time, yielded a correlation coefficient close to zero. Within the range of temperatures studied (26 to 37.C), no significant effect on the correlation coefficient was observed.