Growthcurver: An R package for obtaining interpretable metrics from microbial growth curves

Abstract

Background: Plate readers can measure the growth curves of many microbial strains in a high-throughput fashion. The hundreds of absorbance readings collected simultaneously for hundreds of samples create technical hurdles for data analysis. Results: Growthcurver summarizes the growth characteristics of microbial growth curve experiments conducted in a plate reader. The data are fitted to a standard form of the logistic equation, and the parameters have clear interpretations on population-level characteristics, like doubling time, carrying capacity, and growth rate. Conclusions: Growthcurver is an easy-to-use R package available for installation from the Comprehensive R Archive Network (CRAN). The source code is available under the GNU General Public License and can be obtained from Github (Sprouffske K, Growthcurver sourcecode, 2016).