Introduction: Culture Media Preparation and Sterilization Flashcards
What are the three types of media used according to consistency?
Liquid, semisolid, and solid media.
What is the major difference between solid/semisolid media and liquid media?
Solid and semisolid media contain a solidifying or gelling agent (e.g., agar, gelatine), while liquid media do not.
Give examples of liquid media.
Examples include nutrient broth, tryptic soy broth, and glucose broth.
What are semisolid media used for?
Semisolid media are used in fermentation studies, determining bacterial motility, and promoting anaerobic growth.
What are the main purposes of solid media?
Solid media are used for surface growth observation, pure culture isolation, bacterial enumeration and isolation, and observation of specific biochemical reactions.
What are some examples of solid media?
Nutrient agar is a common example of solid media.
How can solid media be poured?
Solid media can be poured into test tubes, Petri dishes, agar slants, agar deep tubes, or agar plates.
What are the categories of media based on composition?
Media can be chemically defined/synthetic or complex/nonsynthetic.
What are three commonly used components in complex media?
Beef extract, yeast extract, and peptone.
What is the function of all-purpose media?
All-purpose media support the growth of most bacteria cultured in the laboratory without containing any special additives.
What do selective media do?
Selective media enhance the growth of certain organisms while inhibiting the growth of others due to the inclusion of particular substrates.
What is the purpose of differential media?
Differential media allow identification of microorganisms through visible physiological reactions unique to those bacteria.
What are enrichment media used for?
Enrichment media allow metabolically fastidious microorganisms to grow due to the addition of specific growth factors.
What is the function of enrichment culture?
What is the function of enrichment culture?
What distinguishes agar slants from agar deep tubes?
Agar slants are tubes where the agar is allowed to harden in a slanted position, while agar deep tubes have agar hardened in an upright position.
What is the designation for agar poured into a Petri dish?
Agar poured into a Petri dish is designated as an agar plate.
What is the difference between chemically defined and complex media?
Chemically defined media are composed of known quantities of pure chemicals, while complex media are composed of complex materials with poorly defined chemical compositions.
What are some examples of chemically defined media?
Examples include minimal media used in molecular biology and synthetic media used in industrial microbiology.
What are the practical advantages of using media that both select for and differentiate common pathogens?
Such media allow for the identification of specific pathogens while inhibiting the growth of others, aiding in diagnostic processes.
How do enrichment media differ from selective media?
Enrichment media provide specific growth factors to encourage the growth of fastidious microorganisms, whereas selective media contain substances to inhibit the growth of certain organisms while allowing others to thrive.
