Name: Fabiola
Status: other
Grade: other
Location: Outside U.S.
Country: Colombia
Date: Fall 2011
Question:
When I apply a bacterial solution for biological control of a pest in agricultural systems, the bacterias will survive if I use a pressure of 200 psi or more?
Replies:
Maybe.
25 atmospheres is equivalent to approximately 367psi. This is the osmotic pressure inside the bacterial cell wall...which is greater than your external pressure of 200psi.
"Bacteria usually live in relatively dilute environments such that the accumulation of solutes inside the cell cytoplasm greatly exceeds the total solute concentration in the outside environment. Thus, the osmotic pressure against the inside of the plasma membrane may be the equivalent of 10-25 atmospheres. Since the membrane is a delicate, plastic structure, it must be restrained by an outside wall made of porous, rigid material that has high tensile strength. Such a material is murein, the ubiquitous component of bacterial cell walls."
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