What is the “great plate count anomaly”?

Coined by Staley and Kanopka in 1985, “the great plate count anomaly” is a term that
refers to the difference between the total number of cells from natural environments forming
viable colonies on agar media and the number that is countable through the use of microscopy.
For years, microbiologists have been culturing microbes from environmental samples,
separating individual cells, changing nutrient contents of agar and other parameters in order to
adjust to what’s fitting for the growth of a specific microbe to allow them to grow and form
colonies. However, no matter what adjustment is done, only few of uncountable microbes are
able to be observed under the microscope. In fact, only one out of one hundred microbes is able
to be cultivated in an original sample in estimation (Reguera 2016). Several factors could be
explained as to why this phenomenon occurs such as slow growth of organisms, occurrences of
rare species, cultivation media and its byproducts, overall environmental conditions, and lacking
signals or interactions of one microorganism with another (Wagner 2019).

Reguera G. “The Great Plate Count Anomaly” That Is No More. In: In the company of microbes:
Ten years of small things considered. Washington: ASM Press; 2016. p. 288–291.

Wagner KS. Cultivation and characterization of sex-specific microbiota in the broad-nosed

pipefish Syngnathus typhle [thesis]. 2019.

What causes the decline phase?

Decline phase, or basically when the population growth manifests a sharp decline and
thereby suggesting death of cells, is a phase wherein the microbes are no longer replicating.
Population decreases in this phase as nutrients decrease and as toxic products of catabolism in
the environment accumulate in the cells. Replication of microbes disables due to mainly
limitations of nutrient availability and damages incurred by the cells. Death phase may be
countermanded through replenishment of growth medium; however, it could end up not
effectuating if the cell is too damaged (Brown 2022).

Brown HL. Microbial growth. Encyclopedia of Infection and Immunity. 2022:324–335.

doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-818731-9.00190-7