Before any successful application of Microbial Enhanced Oil Recovery process can be realized, an understanding of the cells' transport and retentive mechanisms in porous media is needed. Cell transport differs from particle transport in their ability to produce polysaccharides, which are used by cells to adhere to surfaces. Cell injection experiments have been conducted using Leuconostoc cells to illustrate the importance of cellular polysaccharide production as a transport mechanism that hinders cell movement and plugs porous media. Kinetic studies of the Leuconostoc cells, carried out to further understand the plugging rates of porous media, have shown that the cells' growth rates are approximately equal when provided with monosaccharide (glucose and fructose) or sucrose. The only difference in cell metabolism is the production of dextran when sucrose is supplied as a carbon source. Experimentally it has also been shown that the cells' growth rate is weakly dependent upon the sucrose concentration in the media, and strongly dependent upon the concentration of yeast extract. The synthesis of cellular dextran has been found to lag behind cell generation, thus indicating that the cells need to reach maturity before they are capable of expressing the detransucrase enzyme and synthesizing insoluble dextran. Dextran yields weremore » found to be dependent upon the sucrose concentration in the media. 10 refs., 9 figs., 9 tabs.« less