Stable-age sampling requires age-lifetime dependence in models of microbial pseudo-lag.

Authors

Tiewu Tan, Xin Zhang, Hui Qin

Published in

Food microbiology. Volume 142. Pages 105315. Epub Sep 24, 2026.

Abstract

Stathas and Baranyi propose that inter-division-time variability and the excess of young cells in an exponentially growing culture generate a statistical pseudo-lag after transfer. The distinction between physiological lag and finite-inoculum stochasticity is useful. However, their simulation appears to draw relative age and total lifetime independently, although these variables are dependent in a stable exponentially growing population. Correct joint sampling changes the residual time to first division and means that stable age composition, by itself, should not displace ensemble-mean exponential growth. In addition, the Gamma parameter θ is used as a scale in the equations, as a rate in Figure 2 of Stathas and Baranyi (2026), and as a scale again in Figure 7 of Stathas and Baranyi (2026). We provide the correct joint distribution and parameter conversion and propose a focused reanalysis before the central quantitative claim is interpreted biologically.

PMID:
42901668
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 21 Oct 2026.

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