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The Importance Of Knowing The Identity Of A Microorganism Essay

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Introduction: Through the conduction of numerous experiments, the identity of two bacterial isolates was determined. The tested specimen was an unknown sample of a mixed culture of two different species of bacteria. The first step that was taken was obtaining a pure culture of each species of bacteria by isolating one species from the other. Once isolation was complete, the isolated cultures were tested using procedures and tests that had been performed during previous lab sessions. Each mixed culture that was tested had one gram positive and one gram negative bacterial species. The possible species of bacteria that could have been isolated from the mixtures included the following: Bacillus subtilis, Corynebacterium glutamicum, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, Enterobacter aerogenes, Salmonella enterica, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The identities of the unknown species were determined through comparing the experimental data against data acquired from previous experimentation.
Another purpose of this experiment is to stress the importance of knowing the identity of a microorganism. Knowing the species of microorganism present in a sample provides a stepping stone in determining the right path of patient treatment and/or environmental disinfection.
Isolation/Experimental Plan: The isolation of the two bacterial species was done by initially performing a T-streak using aseptic technique on a tryptic soy agar (TSA) plate. After incubation of the

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