Question:
What are the steps for culturing E.col bacteria?
Replies:
for culturing E.coli bacteria you need sterile medium,
either liquid or in the form of agar plates, and a
culture of pure E.coli cells. If you want to culture
E.coli from stool, you have to add selective
antibiotics to the plates to prevent growth of other
bacteria that are present. Even so, several bacterial
species might show up and you have to pick the right
colonies of E.coli to culture them to pure form, and
to confirm by bacteriological tests that they are
indeed E.coli.
In the Virtual Museum of Bacteria at
http://www.bacteriamuseum.org you will find useful
further information and also a link to do-it-yourself
bacteriology at home, e.g. to culture bacteria from
Limburgher cheese.
Have fun!
Dr. Wassenaar
Your question is very general. E. coli are bacteria that live in the gut of
warm blooded animals so they like being incubated at body temperature which
is about 98 deg. F or 37 deg. C. They will grow at room temp. but more
slowly. They can be grown in the dark or the light. You must put them on
some sort of nutrient agar medium that provides all of the nutrients they
need. This must all be done in a sterile manner with a bacteriological loop
sterilized by a bunson burner flame until it glows red, or a sterile cotton
swab. When you are finished, you must have some way of diposing of all the
materials you used in a manner that will kill the bacteria. 10% bleach is an
effective disinfectant. Swabs and petrie dishes can be put into bleach to be
decontaminated. If an autoclave is available to you this is best.
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