"cloud264" <cloudstrife264 from yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:mailman.887.1189444157.11350.microbio from net.bio.net...
>> Ok, I'm a high school student and I'm working on a project about Microbial
> Corrosion. I need to find a way to either make my own growth medium for
> my
> bacteria samples (preferred method) or a place to buy growth medium to
> culture my bacteria. It's also preferred for it to be a liquid medium so
> I
> can control the amount of bacteria in my testing. Just so everyone
> responding knows, all of this will be done at my high school under
> supervision and under safe conditions. I have the equipment to culture,
> and
> a source to find the bacteria (bacterial film in corroding pipes), but I
> just need to find the growth medium. Any help would be GREATLY
> appreciated!!! Thanks!
>>> --
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>http://www.nabble.com/Growth-Medium-Help%21%21%21-tf4410459.html#a12582014> Sent from the Bio.net - Microbio mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
>
Hi CLoud
Ii dont advise manufacturing your own micobial groth medium, to do so would
be likely to be expensive,difficult and would almost certainly
reducue reproducibility in any series ofexperiments you might intend to
carry out.
Im presuming you are in the USA so commercial supplies of mediacan be
obtained from ;-
USA
Remel Inc
12076 Santa Fe Drive
P.O. Box 14428
Lenexa
KS 66215
They supply Oxoid media.
You are going to have to put thought into which media to use and what
condtions of incubation would produce the best result.
Some basic microbiological considerations will need to be evaluted when
making this choice.
The following list represents a few tips you may have to consider in
relation to the types of organism you are attempting to isolate.
1) Do you think just one organism is growing on the pipe. As a first step
why not do some microscopy and Gram stains ( see your teacher) to determine
the types of cell present. There could be bacteria or there could be yeasts
or moulds perhapes even alage present. If there is more than one type of
cell present then do they appear to grow as an integrated mass ( a Biofilm).
Differing agars and conditions of incubation exists for many classes of
microbe. Such data is a result in its self :)
Do some reading at the library ! Try and find examples in books or
scientific periodicals of where others have described microbes isolated
from pipe work. Do you observations correspond to theirs ?
2) You need to consider physical factors in the environment of isolation
and try to match these as best you can in your choice of media and culture
conditions so that you atleast stand a chance of isolating something .
These might include ;
pH
Humidity
The presence Carbon sources
Temperature of the environment
The chemical nature of surrounding environment
The chemical nature of the surface the bugs are growing on
Are the bugs growing in the presence of oxygen or are they shielded from
normal atmosphere
Thinking about and understanding these factors is a important learning step
in your project.
It sounds like you have chosen to work with bugs from a very specialised
environment perhapes even an extreme environment, so possibley general
media may not be wholly succesfull in culturing the bugs.
Lets say for arguments sake these bugs are iron reducing bacteria. Do some
reading on this. What does iron reducing mean , Why would such bugs reduce
iron anyways, whats in it for them. WHat effects do they cause. How do you
grow them and on or in what ..this link might help
www.ott.wrcc.osmre.gov/library/proceed/sudbury2003/sudbury03/57.pdf
What everchoices you make uif at first nothing happens then modify your
thinking review the conditions above and try again.
If you do succeed in growing anything compare what you isolate by
microscopy with those isolates obtained ddirectly from the environment. Do
they match in terms of shape,size, take up of stain ect.
I suppose it depends on your ultimate goal for this peice of work, so have
you clearly defined what you are trying to achieve ?
I dont usually help with homework but you request was polite, sensibley
phrased and cleary shows you intend to do some work.
All the best and get a good grade
N10
