CFU
Science & Engineering abbreviation · Biology
| Stands for | Colony-forming unit |
|---|---|
| Categories | Science & Engineering |
CFU stands for Colony-forming unit, a biology abbreviation.
Count of viable bacteria or fungal cells in a sample, estimated by spreading dilutions on agar and counting the colonies that grow, since each colony arises from a single cell or clump. Results are reported as CFU per milliliter or gram, and probiotic labels list billions of CFU per dose.
Example: Each capsule contains 10 billion CFU of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium strains.
Usage notes
A CFU is not necessarily one cell, because chains or clumps also form a single colony. Plates with roughly 30 to 300 colonies are considered countable. Food and drinking-water safety limits for coliform bacteria are expressed in CFU per 100 milliliters.
Related abbreviations
More biology abbreviations
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- BSL – Biosafety level
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- cAMP – Cyclic adenosine monophosphate
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- CHO – Chinese hamster ovary (cells)
- CRISPR – Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats
- cryo-EM – Cryogenic electron microscopy
- DAPI – 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole
- DNA – Deoxyribonucleic acid
- dNTP – Deoxynucleoside triphosphate