Question

What do you mean by the low Ks value?

(a) Low affinity for the limiting substrate

(b) Medium affinity for the limiting substrate

(c) High affinity for the limiting substrate

(d) No affinity for the limiting substrate

I had been asked this question during a job interview.

Question is taken from Kinetics of Cell Substrate Uptake in Cell Culture topic in portion Homogenous Reactions of Bioprocess Engineering

Answer 1

The correct option is (c) High affinity for the limiting substrate

To explain: If the organism has a very high affinity for the limiting substrate (a low Ks value) the growth rate will not be affected until the substrate concentration has declined to a very low level. Thus, the deceleration phase for such a culture would be short.