Economically Feasible Induction of the Bacteriophage Λq − Mutant in Escherichia Coli

Cost-effective induction of bacteriophage λQ− in Escherichia coli on reporter-protein production is presented. Long-duration temperature induction increases the mortality of bacterial hosts and decreases the productivity efficiency; however, sufficient time span of induction is essential to overcome the induction threshold. Thus, the optimal duration for cost-effective induction is approximately 30 min, since the benefit of induction longer than 30 min is unlikely to pay off the expense of significant host viability loss. Global optimization of economically feasible induction occurs at a critical optical density of ca. 1.0 for 30 min duration at 38 °C.