CFUbased
CFUbased refers to methods and data that rely on colony forming units (CFUs) to quantify viable microorganisms. In microbiology, CFU is used as a proxy for living cells because a colony on a solid medium typically originates from a single viable cell or from a small cluster capable of growth into a colony. CFUbased quantification is common in clinical diagnostics, food safety, environmental monitoring, and biotechnology, and is often expressed as CFU per milliliter (CFU/mL) or CFU per gram.
The typical workflow involves diluting a sample and spreading or pouring aliquots onto appropriate agar plates,
Advantages of CFUbased counting include its relative simplicity, low cost, and the ability to assess viability,
Limitations include the assumption that each colony arises from a single viable cell, which can be violated
In practice, CFU/mL remains a widely used, culture-based metric for estimating viable microbial abundance.