The effect of sublethal heating on <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> at different physiological ages

Abstract

Sublethal heat injury was measured by the difference in the numbers of colonies developing on trypticase soy agar and trypticase soy agar containing 7.5% NaCl. This difference was largest with late logarithmic and early stationary phase cells because, at this stage, cells had a greatly increased heat resistance. In contrast, the ability to form colonies on high salt agar after sublethal heating varied little during the growth cycle.