Bacterial growth in cultures
Bacterial growth
Single-celled microorganisms, some of which are pathogenic in humans, animals and plants. Singular is bacterium. can replicate approximately every 20 minutes by The form of cell division used by prokaryotes to reproduce., which is a simple form of Process by which cells duplicate.. This level of replication will depend on the availability of nutrients and other suitable conditions such as temperature.
There are many ways to culture bacteria, and these include:
- nutrient broth solution
- colonies on an agar plate
Nutrient broth solution or culture medium, allows a liquid or gel to provide all the nutrients needed for bacteria to grow successfully. These must include: carbohydrates for energy, nitrogen for The production of proteins from amino acids, which happens in the ribosomes of the cell., plus other minerals.
A Petri dish that contains agar gel and usually some nutrients. Agar plates are used to culture (grow) bacteria and fungi in the lab. are created by pouring hot molten agar into sterile A clear glass or plastic dish, used to grow living cells from organisms so they can be studied., which are then allowed to set. Bacteria can be spread onto the plates, and allowed to form A visible cluster of microorganisms. of the specific bacterium.
Uncontaminated cultures
If a specific bacterium is going to be Grown deliberately by humans. or grown, other contaminating bacteria would compete for nutrients in the broth or agar. Plus some bacteria could be harmful (such as Microorganism that causes disease.) and would complicate the results of experiments when testing the efficiency of antibiotics or other anti-microbial compounds.