Effects of Selective, Differential and Enriched Media on Bacteria

Steven Hope 20437118 Lab Partner: Soojin Kim TA: Kate Alambo, Amy Morrison October 5 October 19, 2012 BIOL 240L Section 008

Introduction When studying and analyzing bacteria, the observer must be sure that the bacteria being analyzed is of pure culture and is isolated from other bacteria. Microbiologists employ certain types of media to isolate the desired bacteria and obtain a pure culture. A medium is a nutrient solution used to grow organisms (Brock, 2012). The purpose of this lab experiment was to observe various effects that different types of media have on certain types of bacteria. The various effects include whether or not the bacteria experienced growth, the colour of the bacterial culture, the shape of the bacteria colonies and the margins, as well as the opacity and consistency of the culture. Three types of media were used in this experiment: selective, differential and enriched media. Selective media only allows for certain types of organisms to grow, and inhibits the growth of other types of organisms (Brock pg. 884). Selective media utilises certain chemicals to inhibit growth of organisms, but allow the growth of the bacteria desired. Differential media contain chemicals that allow organisms to be easily identified, either by their colour, growth and appearance on the differential medium. Finally, enriched media permit growth in fastidious organisms. Fastidious organisms are organisms that require complex and demanding nutritional requirements in order to survive and grow (Brock pg. 89). Enriched media contain specific growth factors and nutrients, which cater to the needs of the fastidious organism being cultured. During this experiment, KF Streptococcus Agar was used as the selective medium. KF Streptococcus Agar is widely used to isolate fecal streptococci in water. This selective agar contains sodium azide, which under weak acid conditions combines with iron ions (Havelar, pg.
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2). In organisms, sodium azide inhibits aerobic respiration by heme-containing respiratory enzymes, thus preventing the production of ATP, ultimately impeding the growth of the organism. (Lichstein pg. 225). KF Streptococcus Agar would be highly useful in isolating organisms which do not rely upon aerobic respiration for energy production. Tryptic Soy Agar served as the enriched medium for this experiment. This particular agar is a complex medium, which indicates that the agar contains digested components of microbial, animal or plant products. As a result, the exact chemical composition of this medium is unknown; however it is highly nutritional (Textbook pg 89). Tryptic Soy Agar contains