Patent ID: 7947440

Claim:
A method for determining the specific growth rate of a target cell population within a non-homogeneous system, comprising determining the specific rate of ribosome synthesis in the target cells of the system, and correlating the specific rate of ribosome synthesis to the specific growth rate of the target cell population, wherein said determining step comprises: (a) exposing the target cells in the non-homogeneous system to a compound that inhibits secondary processing of precursor 16S rRNA without inhibiting production thereof; (b) collecting and preserving samples comprising target cells from the non-homogeneous system over time; (c) measuring the ratio of precursor 16S rRNA to mature 16S rRNA in the preserved samples; and (d) determining the specific rate of ribosome synthesis in the target cells by determining the change in the ratio of the precursor 16S rRNA to mature 16S rRNA over the time of exposure of the target cells to the inhibitory compound; and wherein the non-homogeneous system is a biological sample selected from the group consisting of blood, saliva, semen, vaginal secretion, urine, tears, perspiration, and extracellular fluid.