Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Microbial Growth
Physical requirements
Temperature
pH
Osmotic pressure
Chemical requirements
Carbon
Nitrogen, sulfur, and phosphorous
Trace elements
Oxygen
Organic growth factor
Temperature
Minimum growth temperature
Optimum growth temperature
Maximum growth temperature
Thermophiles
Hyperthermophiles
Mesophiles
Psychrotrophs
Psychrophiles
15 cm (6′′) deep
Refrigerator air
Plasma Plasma
membrane Cell wall membrane
H2O
Cytoplasm Cytoplasm
Carbon
Structural organic molecules, energy source
Chemoheterotrophs use organic carbon sources
Autotrophs use CO2
Nitrogen
In amino acids and proteins
Most bacteria decompose proteins
Some bacteria use NH4+ or NO3–
A few bacteria use N2 in nitrogen fixation
Sulfur
In amino acids, thiamine, and biotin
Most bacteria decompose proteins
Some bacteria use SO42– or H2S
Phosphorus
In DNA, RNA, ATP, and membranes
PO43– is a source of phosphorus
Trace elements
Inorganic elements required in small amounts
Usually as enzyme cofactors
Catalase
2 H2O2 2 H 2O + O2
Peroxidase
H 2O2 + 2 H + 2 H 2O
Hydroxyl radical (OH•)
Microbial communities
Form slime or hydrogels
Bacteria attracted by chemicals via quorum sensing
Clumps of bacteria
Migrating
adhering to surface
clump of
bacteria
Share nutrients
Sheltered from harmful factors
Complex polysaccharide
Used as solidifying agent for culture media in Petri
plates, slants, and deeps
Generally not metabolized by microbes
Liquefies at 100°C
Solidifies at ~40°C
Reducing media
Contain chemicals (thioglycolate or oxyrase) that
combine O2
Heated to drive off O2
Clamp with
Lid with clamp screw
O-ring gasket
Envelope containing
sodium bicarbonate
and sodium
borohydride
Palladium
Anaerobic indicator catalyst pellets
(methylene blue)
Petri plates
Air
lock
Arm
ports
Bacterial
colonies
Hemolysis
Uninoculated
Staphylococcus Staphylococcus
epidermis aureus
Colonies
Binary fission
Budding
Conidiospores (actinomycetes)
Fragmentation of filaments
Cross-wall forms,
completely separating the
two DNA copies.
Cells separate.
60 min × hours
Generation time = = 21 minutes/generation
Number of generations
(1,048,576)
Log10 = 6.02
Log10 = 4.52
Log10 of number of cells
Number of cells
(524,288)
Log10 = 3.01
(131,072)
(65,536)
(32,768)
(32) (1024)
Staphylococcus spp.
1 ml 1 ml 1 ml 1 ml 1 ml
Original 9 m broth
inoculum in each tube
1 ml 1 ml 1 ml 1 ml 1 ml
Plating
Bacterial
dilution Spread inoculum
over surface
Add melted
evenly.
nutrient
agar.
Swirl to
mix.
Colonies grow
Colonies only on surface
grow on of medium.
and in
solidified
medium.
Volume of
Inoculum for
Each Set of
Five Tubes
Cover glass
Slide
Bacterial
suspension Microscopic count: All cells in
several large squares are
Cover glass counted, and the numbers are
averaged. The large square shown
Slide here has 14 bacterial cells.
Location of squares The volume of fluid over the
Cross section of a cell counter. large square is 1/1,250,000
The depth under the cover glass and the area of a milliliter. If it contains 14
of the squares are known, so the volume of the cells, as shown here, then
bacterial suspension over the squares can be there are 14 × 1,250,000 =
calculated (depth × area). 17,500,000 cells in a milliliter.
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.
Direct Microscopic Count
14
= 17,500,000
8 × 10−7
Light source
Spectrophotometer
Light
Light-sensitive
Scattered light Blank
that does not
detector
reach detector
Bacterial suspension
© 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.
Measuring Microbial Growth