Viability of V. cholerae and E. coli upon osmotic downshifts of different magnitude. Both cultures were pregrown at 1,180 mosmol (LB containing 0.52 M NaCl) for 2 h and then abruptly diluted into media of different osmolarity as indicated on the horizontal axis. After 15 min of incubation, the cultures were further diluted and plated in duplicates. The survival is expressed as the number of colonies relative to the unshocked control. The data points are averages of six independent experiments, with error bars representing standard deviation.