Bacteria obtain mineral elements like calcium and iron from peptone, beef extract, and yeast extract in nutrient broth. Gelatin is used when differentiating microorganisms based on their ability to produce the enzyme gelatinase. The shelf life of unsterilized media can be extended by adjusting the pH to a neutral level preferred by most bacteria. Agar is preferable to gelatin as an agglutinant in culture media because bacteria cannot degrade it. There are various types of culture media including solid, semi-solid, and liquid media as well as basal, enriched, selective, indicator, transport, and storage media.
Bacteria obtain mineral elements like calcium and iron from peptone, beef extract, and yeast extract in nutrient broth. Gelatin is used when differentiating microorganisms based on their ability to produce the enzyme gelatinase. The shelf life of unsterilized media can be extended by adjusting the pH to a neutral level preferred by most bacteria. Agar is preferable to gelatin as an agglutinant in culture media because bacteria cannot degrade it. There are various types of culture media including solid, semi-solid, and liquid media as well as basal, enriched, selective, indicator, transport, and storage media.
Bacteria obtain mineral elements like calcium and iron from peptone, beef extract, and yeast extract in nutrient broth. Gelatin is used when differentiating microorganisms based on their ability to produce the enzyme gelatinase. The shelf life of unsterilized media can be extended by adjusting the pH to a neutral level preferred by most bacteria. Agar is preferable to gelatin as an agglutinant in culture media because bacteria cannot degrade it. There are various types of culture media including solid, semi-solid, and liquid media as well as basal, enriched, selective, indicator, transport, and storage media.
Bacteria obtain mineral elements like calcium and iron from peptone, beef extract, and yeast extract in nutrient broth. Gelatin is used when differentiating microorganisms based on their ability to produce the enzyme gelatinase. The shelf life of unsterilized media can be extended by adjusting the pH to a neutral level preferred by most bacteria. Agar is preferable to gelatin as an agglutinant in culture media because bacteria cannot degrade it. There are various types of culture media including solid, semi-solid, and liquid media as well as basal, enriched, selective, indicator, transport, and storage media.
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Actviity 5
Questions to Answer: 1. From what source do bacteria obtain their mineral elements like Ca, Fe, etc. in nutrient broth? A nutrient broth contains substances that are necessary for the growth of microorganisms such as bacteria. Thus, it is used for the general cultivation of a broad variety of microorganisms. It consists of 3 grams of beef extract (0.3%), 5 grams of peptone (0.5%), distilled water, sodium chloride, and yeast extract. From the given constituents, bacteria obtain Calcium, Iron, and other mineral elements from peptone, beef extract, and yeast extract.
2. When is Gelatin used?
Nutrient gelatin is typically used when differentiating microorganisms on the basis of their ability to produce gelatinase in a laboratory setting. Gelatinase is an exoenzyme that is capable of hydrolyzing gelatin, which is a protein that some bacteria can use as a source of nutrients. If gelatin can be digested, gelatinase will break down the integrity of the medium causing it to remain liquid even if the gelatin is refrigerated. This is the principle followed by the gelatin hydrolysis test, which mainly uses gelatin as the growth medium. The test proves itself to be significant in identifying and differentiating species of Serratia, Proteus, Bacillus, Clostridium, Pseudomonas and Flavobacterium. To be more specific, the test also helps to differentiate Staphylococcus aureus, which is gelatinase-positive, from non-pathogenic epidermidis, which is gelatinase negative.
3. How can one remedy the effect of pH on the shelf life of unsterilized media? The shelf life of unsterilized media is guaranteed to be affected due to pH. Most bacteria prefer a neutral pH of about 7 over very basic or acidic pH levels. In line with this, the effect of pH on the shelf life of unsterilized media can be remedied by adjusting the pH of the media to an optimal or near-optimal pH depending on the specie of bacteria. For example, bacteria such as E. coli can grow at its best when the media has a 7.2+/-0.4. In addition, this can also grant the shelf lives of media to increase.
4. What are the advantages in the use of agar as agglutinant in culture media? Nutrient agar is a general-purpose medium that is suitable to cultivate a wide range of non-fastidious microorganisms. Mainly, the advantage of agar as an agglutinant is its absence of inhibitors that potentially block the optimal development of microorganisms. Agar is also more preferrable than gelatin in culture media for the reason that its lack of nutritional value hinders bacteria to feed off it. And because microbes cannot degrade it, agar becomes a better agglutinant in culture media for bacteria to grow.
5. Name the different types of media and give examples.
There are various types of media used to cultivate bacteria and it can be categorized based on consistency, nutritional component, and application. The types of media based on consistency are solid, semi-solid, and liquid media. Solid media is mostly used as pure culture for isolating bacteria and prepared by adding solidifying agents. The agar is the most commonly used solidifying agent as it has no nutritional value. Semi-solid media is characterized by a soft custard-like consistency that is useful in demonstrating bacterial motility. Amies transport medium is an example of it, which prolongs the viability of pathogenic microorganisms. Liquid media, sometimes referred as broth, allows bacteria to grow uniformly and form turbidity. An example of it is nutrient broth, which maintains a liquid form at room temperature and used to sustain the stocks of microbes. The types of media based on nutritional component are simple, complex, and synthetic media. Simple media contain the minimum adequate nutrition for non- fastidious microorganisms. Examples of it are nutrient broth, nutrient agar, and peptone. Complex media have components that are difficult to estimate. Blood agar and Tryptic Soy Broth are some examples of it. Synthetic media are specially prepared media made of known components. Examples of this media include Dubo’s medium and peptone water. The types of media according to its functional use or application are basal, enriched, selective, indicator, transport, and storage media. Basal media are the media used for culture of bacteria without requiring the enrichment of the media. Staphylococcus and Enterobacteriaceae are the bacteria that grow in these media. Its examples are nutrient broth, nutrient agar, and peptone water. Enriched media refers to the media that culture fastidious bacteria, in which blood, serum, egg yolk, etc. are added for enrichment. Some of its examples include blood agar, chocolate agar, and Loeffler’s serum slope. Selective media favor the growth of a certain bacterium through inhibiting the growth of unwanted bacteria to recover pathogen from the mixture of bacteria and allow the growth of desirable bacteria. MacConkey agar, Lowenstein- Jensen media, and tellurite media are a few examples of this type of media. Indicator or differential media incorporate an indicator in the medium to distinguish one type of microorganism from another one growing on the same media. Examples of it are blood agar and MacConkey agar. When a specimen cannot be cultured right after collection, transport media are used to prevent desiccation of specimen and maintain the viability of all organisms present in the specimen without altering their concentration. Some of its examples are Cary-Blair medium, Amies medium, Stuart medium. Lastly, storage media are used to store bacteria for an extended period of time. Examples include Egg saline medium and chalk cooked meat broth.
V. Conclusion In conclusion, the activity imparted in-depth knowledge and experience regarding the preparation of culture media. Culture medium is the material prepared to grow microorganisms. The preparation of simple media, like nutrient broth and nutrient agar, have its basic principles that were highlighted in the procedures. Not only did the activity explained the process for preparing media but it also provided information about its constituents and allow the learners to evaluate their corresponding functions, effects, and significance. Through this activity, the importance of sterilization in media preparation were recognized. It is essential to sterilize the culture media itself before microbes start using the nutrients up and have thousands of them to reproduce. Additionally, various types of culture media have been identified and their examples and differences were understood. Based on consistency, there are solid, semi-solid, and liquid media. Based on nutritional component, the types are simple, complex, and synthetic media. And the media based on application include basal, enriched, selective, indicator, transport, and storage media. On a final note, the preparation of culture media is truly a fundamental procedure for microbiological tests. Being correct and considerate while doing it is a necessity to ensure an efficient process and accurate results.
