“Research Note” 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 as starvation. Flexibacter chinensis was grown and multiplied in the starvation medium and its viable count, total count and cell size were investigated under different temperatures. Also, the effects of different nutrient sources were investigated. The survival of the organism under starvation conditions was temperature dependent with the longest survival occurring at 4˚C and the shortest at above 30˚C. Amendments of starvation medium with glucose or urea (as carbon and nitrogen source respectively) delayed the reduction in cell size and increased the survival time of F. chinensis at a number of different temperatures