NAME: OLAJIDE DORCAS AANUOLUWAPO

MATRIC NO: BCH/2018/128

DEPARTMENT: BIOCHEMISTRY
COURSE: MCB 202 (GENERAL MICROBIOLOGY II)
ASSIGNMENT: WRITE ON SOME DETAILS HOW YOU WOULD ISOLATE MICROORGANISMS
(BACTERIA) FROM THE AIR IN A MICROBIOLOGY TEACHING LABORATORY.

PROCEDURES

 Get sterile petri dish and pour sterile nutrient agar (15-20ml) into it. Pour in such a way that
the medium is uniformly spread on the petri dish by carefully rotating the dish in clockwise
and anticlockwise direction.
 The agar is then allowed to cool and solidify or set in the plates and then invert the petri dish
to prevent condensation dropping from the lid into the agar. (The plates are usually dried
before use or incubated overnight to check purity).
 Then the agar is exposed to air by removing the lid for 20mins to trap bacteria or any
microorganism present in the air.
 Exposed plates are then incubated at 30-35°c for 24-48 hours in the incubator.
 After specific incubation period the plates are then taken out and examined for the presence
of microbial growth in the form of colonies. It is assumed that each colony has developed by
the growth and multiplication of a single microorganism(bacteria) that fell onto the agar
surface when it was exposed to air.
 Colonies are counted, studied and the different types are coded and subcultured into fresh
agar plates (using the streak plate technique) to obtain pure culture.