The sample for my unknown bacteria report was obtained from the on/off button on the living room television at my house. I was intrigued to swab this area of my home, mainly because with two grade school aged girls and a husband that works at a sand plant that also spends the majority of his off time outdoors, there are a number of things that could be growing on it. The television does get wiped down every Sunday with an antibacterial wipe, and it interested me to see how well these antibacterial wipes work along with what could possibly grow on a surface in a seven day time span in a very active household.
A sample was obtained from the television button and was swabbed on the nutrient agar plate. There was a variety of testing performed on the sample that was obtained to help to identify what kind of bacteria there might be. The bacteria were first transferred from the nutrient agar plate to another plate using aseptic technique. To begin the testing of the bacteria, a gram stain test was performed to determine if the bacteria was gram positive or gram negative, where a smear was made into a slide and examined under a microscope. After examination of the slide, it was determined that the results of the sample were gram positive as the area appeared purple. By viewing, the cell had a large rod shape to it. An acid-fast stain was then done by making a bacterial smear into a slide. This was also examined under a microscope and the sample proved to be acid-fast and have endospores because the area was pink in color. The sample was also inoculated into a semi solid agar Sulfide-Indole-Motility (SIM) tube and was then incubated until the next lab period; upon checking the results the bacteria was found to be motile becau...
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...ve rice with every dish that is ordered, as well as eating from a buffet from time to time. Also when I do prepare a meal for my family, we never all get to eat at the same time so it is a possibility that this bacteria could have grown on food that I had prepared as well. My girls also love to play in the dirt, along with my husband that is an avid outdoorsman that works at a sand plant, and with this bacteria also being a soil-dwelling, it does not surprise me one bit to find this type of bacteria growing on my living room television button. There are a number of scenarios that can be applied to how this bacteria showed up on the television button, but it is for certain that there will defiantly be many changes in our home as to the way that food is prepared and eaten around my household as well and constant hand washing after being outside for any given time.
What do bacteria need to grow? For bacteria to grow the most typical thing that they like ate a warm and moist environment, but that is not all that they like. Bacteria also like and environment with a PH that is normal or close to a human PH and bacteria also like an oxygen rich environment. The places that could be common to find bacteria in a building are a keyboard, a water fountain, and restrooms. A keyboard is a common place for bacteria because it is being touched constantly with hands when people type and hands are warm, so bacteria like them. The water fountain is another place that is common for bacteria to grow because people's warm hands are touching it and also it has water, which causes it to be moist. The last place that bacteria will we commonly found in buildings are restrooms. The bacteria like restrooms because many people are in then and also there is a lot of water in them.
The first day an unknown sample was assigned to each group of students. The first test applied was a gram stain to test for gram positive or gram-negative bacteria. The morphology of the two types of bacteria was viewed under the microscope and recorded. Then the sample was put on agar plates using the quadrant streak method for isolation. There were three agar plates; one was incubated at room temperature, the second at 30 degrees Celsius, and the third at 37 degrees Celsius. By placing each plate at a different temperature optimal growth temperature can be predicted for both species of bacteria.
In this lab project, the microbiology students were given 2 unknown bacteria in a mixed broth each broth being numbered. The goal of this project is to determine the species of bacteria in the broth. They had to separate and isolate the bacteria from the mixed broth and ran numerous tests to identify the unknown bacteria. The significance of identifying an unknown bacteria is in a clinical setting. Determining the exact bacteria in order to prescribe the right treatment for the patient. This project is significant for a microbiology students because it gives necessary skills to them for future careers relating to clinical and research work.
They can be found anywhere and identifying them becomes crucial to understanding their characteristics and their effects on other living things, especially humans. Biochemical testing helps us identify the microorganism present with great accuracy. The tests used in this experiment are rudimentary but are fundamental starting points for tests used in medical labs and helps students attain a better understanding of how tests are conducted in a real lab setting. The first step in this process is to use gram-staining technique to narrow down the unknown bacteria into one of the two big domains; gram-negative and gram-positive. Once the gram type is identified, biochemical tests are conducted to narrow down the specific bacterial species.
The results of the gram stain test were cocci and purple. This indicated that the unknown bacteria were gram positive. The gram stain test eliminated Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia, Salmonella enterica, and Yersinia enterocolitica as choices because these bacteria are gram negative. Next a Blood Agar plate was used because in order to do a MSA or a Catalase test there needs to be a colony of the bacteria. The result of the Blood Agar plate was nonhemolytic.
The purpose of this laboratory is to learn about cultural, morphological, and biochemical characteristics that are used in identifying bacterial isolates. Besides identifying the unknown culture, students also gain an understanding of the process of identification and the techniques and theory behind the process. Experiments such as gram stain, negative stain, endospore and other important tests in identifying unknown bacteria are performed. Various chemical tests were done and the results were carefully determined to identify the unknown bacteria. First session of lab started of by the selection of an unknown bacterium then inoculations of 2 tryptic soy gar (TSA) slants, 1 nutrient broth (TSB), 1 nutrient gelatin deep, 1 motility
Slack, John M. and I. S. Snyder. Bacteria and Human Disease. Chicago: Year Book Medical Publishers, Inc., 1978.
“Salmonella Questions and Answers.” USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service. 20 Sept. 2006. 20 July 2008 .
In the last decade, the number of prescriptions for antibiotics has increases. Even though, antibiotics are helpful, an excess amount of antibiotics can be dangerous. Quite often antibiotics are wrongly prescribed to cure viruses when they are meant to target bacteria. Antibiotics are a type of medicine that is prone to kill microorganisms, or bacteria. By examining the PBS documentary Hunting the Nightmare Bacteria and the article “U.S. government taps GlaxoSmithKline for New Antibiotics” by Ben Hirschler as well as a few other articles can help depict the problem that is of doctors prescribing antibiotics wrongly or excessively, which can led to becoming harmful to the body.
Bacterial cells, like plant cells, are surrounded by a cell wall. However, bacterial cell walls are made up of polysaccharide chains linked to amino acids, while plant cell walls are made up of cellulose, which contains no amino acids. Many bacteria secrete a slimy capsule around the outside of the cell wall. The capsule provides additional protection for the cell. Many of the bacteria that cause diseases in animals are surrounded by a capsule. The capsule prevents the white blood cells and antibodies from destroying the invading bacterium. Inside the capsule and the cell wall is the cell membrane. In aerobic bacteria, the reactions of cellular respiration take place on fingerlike infoldings of the cell membrane. Ribosomes are scattered throughout the cytoplasm, and the DNA is generally found in the center of the cell. Many bacilli and spirilla have flagella, which are used for locomotion in water. A few types of bacteria that lack flagella move by gliding on a surface. However, the mechanism of this gliding motion is unknown. Most bacteria are aerobic, they require free oxygen to carry on cellular respiration. Some bacteria, called facultatibe anaerobes can live in either the presence or absence of free oxygen. They obtain energy either by aerobic respiration when oxygen is present or by fermentation when oxygen is absent. Still other bacteria cannot live in the presence of oxygen. These are called obligate anaerobes. Such bacteria obtain energy only fermentation. Through fermentation, different groups of bacteria produce a wide variety of organic compounds. Besides ethyl alcohol and lactic acid, bacterial fermentation can produce acetic acid, acetone, butyl alcohol, glycol, butyric acid, propionic acid, and methane, the main component of natural gas. Most bacteria are heterotrophic bacteria are either saprophytes or parasites. Saprophytes feed on the remains of dead plants and animals, and ordinarily do not cause disease. They release digestive enzymes onto the organic matter. The enzymes breakdown the large food molecules into smaller molecules, which are absorbed by the bacterial cells. Parasites live on or in living organisms, and may cause disease. A few types of bacteria are Autotrophic, they can synthesize the organic nutrients they require from inorganic substances. Autotrophic bacteria are either photosynthetic or Chemosynthetic. The photosynthetic bacteria contain chlorophyll that are different from the plant chlorophyll. In bacterial photosynthesis, hydrogen is obtained by the splitting of compounds other than water.
Biofilms can form on many surfaces, including natural aquatic systems, human teeth, medical devices like artificial heart valves and catheters,
One major outbreak was on March and April 1998. The major outbreak was Salmonella Enteritidis associated with the contamination of cheese in a commercial product. This happened in Newfoundland. Nearly 700 cases were reported, most of which were children that got the illness. It was found that the source of the outbreak of Salmonella Enteritidis was the cheese in a prepackaged processed lunch packs. The cheese was contaminated when it was being packaged into the lunch packs. It was never found how the cheese got contaminated, but they discover that the cheese was contaminated before it arrived to the place where the products were processed and packaged. They suspect that something must have happen in Parmalat¡¦s plant, the company that provides the cheeses for the lunch pack, because it was only the cheese that got contaminated. However, they will not release any information, so the real explanation of how the cheese got contaminated will never be known.
Biofilms are formed on almost any surface that is submerged in non-sterile water. Even hot springs, and glaciers. Examples of common places where biofilms are found are pipes, hulls of ships, porcelain surfaces of toilet bowls, wood siding, shower tiles, plastics, wooden cutting boards, vases, marine and fresh water environments, soft tissue surfaces in living organisms, contact lenses, mascara brushes, eye care solutions, and artificial fingernails. A sufficient amount of moisture, nutrients, and a large smooth surface must be present for a biofilm to form. The more nutrients there are, chances are, the more rapid the development will be.
Leboffe, M. J., & Pierce, B. E. (2010). Microbiology: Laboratory Theory and Application, Third Edition 3rd Edition (3rd Ed.). Morton Publishing
The most commonly recognized food borne infections are those caused by the bacteria Campylobacter, Salmonella, and E. coli 0157:H7, and by a group of viruses called Calicivirus, also know as the Norwalk viruses. “Thousands of types of bacteria are naturally present in our environment, but not all bacteria cause disease in humans.” (Schmutz 1)