culturing microorganisms

Question	Answer
What is a culture medium?	A solid, liquid or semi-solid that contains the carbohydrates, minerals, proteins and vitamins needed to grow a microorganism
What do you grow bacteria in?	On an agar plate made of a nutrient broth solution or solid agar jelly so as to form an even layer of bacteria.
What do you use to transfer microorganisms into the petri dish?	An inoculating loop
What temperature should it be kept at?	Room temperature, not above 25 degrees.
How would you test the effect of antibiotics on bacterial growth?	Place paper disks of different types of antibiotics onto the dish. It will diffuse into the jelly. A clear area called the inhibition zone will be left where the bacteria have died. Use a paper disk not soaked for control. Leave the plate for 48 hours. The more effective, the larger the inhibition zone
How would you keep the cultures uncontaminated?	To keep results unaffected -petri dishes, culture medium and inoculating loop sterilised by heating to a high temperature. Lid of dish taped tightly to prevent air entering. Stored upside down to stop drops of condensation contaminating results
How do you calculate the size of the inhibition zones?	To compare results you can see which zone is bigger by eye or calculate the area using πrsquared

Resource summary

	Created by James Curry about 6 years ago