A Study of dielectric behavior of E.Coli at Microwave frequencies during various stages of growth

In this paper, we have studied the dielectric behavior of Escherichia coli in the microwave frequency range from 4 GHz to 12 GHz. E. coli being one of the model organisms, gives a clear insight into the dielectric behavior of bacterial species. The study was carried out with bacteria harvested at three different stages of growth cycle. These stages were middle of log phase, end of log phase and end of death phase. The dielectric profile obtained for each case was plotted against the frequency which indicated that the dielectric behavior of the bacterial species is governed by the cell wall morphology and its biochemical characteristics.