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| Bacillus Subtilis; spores |
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| MSA plate: acid productiom |
This week I finished identifying my unknown bacteria. Let me just say this. I NEVER want to do another endospore stain ever again. I performed about 4 or 5 endospore stains on my unknown bacteria this week in hopes of finding spores. The first time I attempted to perform the staining, my bacterial smear fell into a beaker containing boiling water. So, yikes. I performed my second staining improperly. On the third trail, I stained my bacterial smear perfectly, BUT there was no indication of spores. I performed it once again, but there were no spores. After consulting Josh, he explained that the bacteria on my TSA plate might not be stressed enough to form spores. So, I took my bacterial broth that had been in the fridge for a while now and used it in place of the bacteria in the TSA plate. And VOILA! Spores spores spores! I then used a fermentation broth and combined it with my bacteria to spread on an MSA plate, I left in the incubator for a day and waited for my results. The plate displayed yellow streaks, which meant that my bacteria had produced acid. My unknown bacteria is Bacillus shaped, gram-positive, spore positive, and was able to fermentate and produce acid. With this information, I was able to indicate that my bacteria is Bacillus Subtilis.
Wow Maricruz, it seems like you really had an unpleasant experience with endospore staining. What bacteria were you using before you used the bacterial broth? But hey, at least you get to say you tried it five times and learned from it! Remember, science isn’t always perfect so expected the unexpected :)
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