Figure 1

Bacterial growth in the presence and absence of Zn ions. The growth rate of bacteria in MH medium without calcium acetate (MH) and with Ca-acetate (MH2) was similar. After 3 hours the bacteria completed the lag phase and already entered the exponential growth phase, while in MH medium containing 0.3 mM Zn-acetate (MH 2Z) the lag phase was prolonged to approximately 7 hours. The growth of bacteria was not constrained afterwards. The growth was monitored by measuring the absorbance at 600 nm. Reading points were fitted with a sigmoidal function.