The effect of sublethal injury by heating, freezing, drying and gamma-radiation on the duration of the lag phase of Salmonella typhimurium

The duration of the lag phase of Salmonella typhimurium surviving heat, freezing, drying and gamma-radiation was used to indicate the time needed to repair sublethal injury. Following equivalent lethal treatments, heat and freeze-injured cells needed longer to repair than those injured by drying or gamma-radiation. Measurement of repair on membrane filters showed that in a heat-injured population having a lag time of 9 h, some individual cells needed up to 14 h to recover maximum tolerance to 3% NaCl. (author)