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Gram Staining

Decent Essays

Title
Elizabeth Huynh
November 16, 2014
Jason Atkins
Unknown #7

Purpose
The purpose of this study was to identify the

There are a group of tests used specifically to differentiate bacteria in the Enterobacteriaceae family. These

Results
Table 1 Microscopic Data of Differential Gram Stain
Gram Stain (A) Gram-negative Cell Results (B) Gram-positive Cell Results
Before Staining Transparent Color Transparent Color
After Crystal Violet Stain Purple Color Purple Color
After Iodine Stain Purple Color Purple Color
After Decolorization with Alcohol Transparent Color Purple Color
After Safranin Stain Pink/Red Color Purple Color

Table 2 Physiological Tests Conducted to Identify Shigella flexneri
Biochemical Tests Results Symbol
Phenol …show more content…

After the addition of the crystal violet stain and iodine stain, both cells from the two different bacteria colonies were purple in color (Table 1). One of the two bacterium (Bacteria A) stained was transparent after the addition of the decolorizing agent whereas the other bacteria (Bacteria B) was purple (Table 1). After the addition of the Safranin counterstain, Bacteria A cells were pink/red in color while Bacteria B cells remained purple (Table 1). Table 2 shows the observations made after each biochemical test that was performed in order to identify the unknown bacterium as Shigella flexneri. In the Phenol Red broth tests, the broth in the PR Glucose tube had changed from a red to yellow color and there were bubbles present in the tube after incubation (Table 2). In both the PR Lactose and PR Sucrose broth tubes, the broth remained red in color and there were no bubbles present in the tubes (Table 2). In the Methyl Red test, the broth immediately turned red in color after three drops of the Methyl Red reagent (Table 2). In the Voges-Proskauer test, the broth color was unchanged after the addition of VP reagent A and VP reagent B (Table 2). In the Urea hydrolysis test, the inoculated urease broth tube was an orange/yellow color after incubation (Table 2). In the citrate utilization test, the inoculated Simmons Citrate slants …show more content…

The Bacteria A cells that were pink/red in color after the addition of the Safranin stain were the Gram-negative cells. Gram-negative cells have higher lipid content in their walls; therefore they lose the primary stain color after the decolorization step. After the Gram-negative cells were counterstained with Safranin, they turned pink or red, whereas Gram-positive cells remained purple. After the isolation of the Gram-negative bacteria, a variety of tests were performed to identify the unknown bacterium as Shigella flexneri. Of the three Phenol Red broth tests, the PR Glucose broth test was the only one whose results were positive as indicated by the change in broth color from red to yellow and by the presence of bubbles in the tube. These results indicate that the bacterium was able to ferment glucose with acid and gas end products. The bacterium was unable to ferment sucrose or lactose as the broth in both tubes remained red and no bubbles were present. Just from the Phenol Red broth results, the unknown bacterium could either be Salmonella typhimurium or Shigella flexneri. The results from the Methyl Red and Voges-Proskauer tests show that the bacterium was able to perform mixed acid fermentation but could not ferment glucose where its acid products would quickly convert into 2,3-butanediol and

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