Optimizing Growth Curves for Future Bacterial Co-Cultures to Increase GABA Production

By co-culturing different lactic acid bacteria (LAB) it may be possible to create a higher naturally producing GABA probiotic that can assist in improving multiple sclerosis (MS) symptoms. Before the process of co-culturing the bacteria, growth curves need to be created for each of the bacteria. Specifically creating growth curves for different bacteria can show the different phases of their growing cycle. The three bacteria used to create growth curves were two strains of Lactococcus lactus (P&P8), and Corynebacterium glutamicum (G). Each bacteria was grown in its preferred growing media. For each time point (0,2,4,6,8,12 & 24 hours) an OD600 reading was taken and serial dilutions were created using saline. The diluted bacteria were then plated on agar plates at each time point. Once the bacteria had time to grow, the colony-forming units (CFUs) were then counted. Using the total CFU count at each time point, the growth curves were created. Using this data, the mid-LOG was determined and will be useful in future experiments for co-culturing the bacteria together to see if being co-cultured will enhance the production of GABA in P&P8. Our results showed in plating three separate dilution plates with different bacteria, each time point allowed for more accurate growth curves.