Colony-forming unit
Colony-forming unit
A Colony-forming unit (CFU) (/ˈkɒləni ˈfɔːrmɪŋ ˈjuːnɪt/), is a measure used in microbiology to estimate the number of viable microorganisms such as bacteria and fungi in a sample.
Etymology
The term "Colony-forming unit" was first used in the field of hematology to count the number of colonies that stem cells formed. It was later adopted by microbiologists to count the number of microorganisms in a sample.
Definition
In microbiology, a colony-forming unit is defined as a viable cell or group of cells that are capable of growing into a colony. Each colony is assumed to have been derived from a single organism, thus the number of colonies represents the number of viable organisms in the sample.
Related Terms
See Also
External links
- Medical encyclopedia article on Colony-forming unit
- Wikipedia's article - Colony-forming unit
This WikiMD dictionary article is a stub. You can help make it a full article.
Languages: - East Asian
中文,
日本,
한국어,
South Asian
हिन्दी,
Urdu,
বাংলা,
తెలుగు,
தமிழ்,
ಕನ್ನಡ,
Southeast Asian
Indonesian,
Vietnamese,
Thai,
မြန်မာဘာသာ,
European
español,
Deutsch,
français,
русский,
português do Brasil,
Italian,
polski