Mold growth vs Yeast Molecular
Date: August 2004
Why do mold cultures require a much longer period of
incubation than bacteria yeasts?
Bacteria are procaryotic cells (no nucleus, mitochondria, golgi bodies, endoplamic
reticulum, chromosomes, etc) and can divide in as few as 20 minutes. A bacterial
cell is about the size of a mitochondrium. Cells comprising a mold are eucaryotic
cells. They contain a nucleus, chromosomes, endoplasmic reticulum and hundreds of
mitochondria and therefore take a minimum of several hours to reproduce due to their
Regards, Ron Baker, Ph.D.
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Update: June 2012