FIG 1.

Anaerobic growth of various probiotic bacterial strains with 5 mg/ml prebiotic sc-inulin (scI). (A) Lactic acid bacterial strains were grown in 160- to 200-μl aliquots in microtiter plates under constant N₂ flow and growth was followed over time using a microtiter plate reader. (B) Bifidobacterium strains were grown as 3 ml cultures in Hungate tubes under a CO₂ atmosphere, and growth was followed by measuring OD₆₀₀ at 4 or 5 time points. (C) Relative OD₆₀₀ values at stationary phase (using maximum OD₆₀₀ of positive controls on glucose to normalize OD₆₀₀ obtained with sc-inulin). All values shown are means from 3 biological replicates. Some standard deviations are smaller than the size of the symbol and therefore not apparent.