Experiment 4
Experiment 4
LABORATORY REPORT
GROUP : AS2463C
GROUP MEMBERS :
The gram – negative bacterial cell is bacteria covered with a three layered coat consisting of
an inner membrane adjacent to the cell cytoplasm, a peptidoglycan or murein layer
encompassing the inner membrane, and an outer membrane layer enclosing the cell. Weidel
and Pelzer (152) coined the word murein in 1964 to describe the wall – like properties of the
bacterial peptidoglycan. It is analogous to protein and nuclein and does not have any
biochemical connotations, but rather refers to the functional aspects of the cell wall. The
surface of a rod-shaped bacterial cell is described as a cylindrical side wall capped by two
hemispherical poles. During the early part of the division cycle, when cells are not
invaginate, the cells elongate and grow only in the cylindrical wall area. In the later part of
the division cycle, cells invaginate and produce two new poles in the middle of the parental
cell.
OBJECTIVES
1. Cultures provided:
a) E. coli
b) Pseudomonas aeruginosa
c) Serratia marcescens
d) Proteus vulgaris
e) Klebsiella aerogenes
f) Shigella spp
2. Media : Triple Sugar Iron Agar (TSI), Urea Broth, Litmus Milk, Sugar Broths :
lactose, sucrose, maltose, glucose
3. Gram stain reagents
4. Cavity slide
5. Sample of spoiled foods (inoculated with gram negative rod bacteria)
METHODS
3. The spoiled food sample was examined. The spoiled sample was compared under
natural conditions and those which were inoculated with each of the organism. The
change on odour, texture and colour was determined.
DISCUSSION
Bacterial growth is an increase in all the cell components, which ends in multiplication
of cell leading to an increase in population. It involves an increase in the size of the cell and
the increase in the number of individual cells. Bacteria divide by binary fission. Most bacteria
divide in a short amount of time and produce a large amount of bacteria. It is easier to represent
these large numbers by logarithmic scales. When a bacterium is added to a suitable liquid
medium and incubated, its growth follows a definite course. If bacteria counts are made at
intervals after inoculation and plotted in relation to time, a growth curve is obtained. During
log or also known as exponential phase, the cells start dividing and their number increases
exponentially. The doubling time is measured during this period. The bacteria are most
susceptible to antibiotics during this time and stop growing due to decrease of nutrients and O2
supply as well as accumulation of toxic metabolites.
Triple sugar iron agar (TSI) is a differential medium that contains lactose, sucrose, a
small amount of glucose (dextrose), ferrous sulphate, and the pH indicator phenol red. It is
used to differentiate enterics based on the ability to reduce sulphur and ferment carbohydrates.
As with the phenol red fermentation broths, if an organism can ferment any of the three sugars
present in the medium, the medium will turn yellow. If an organism can only ferment dextrose,
the small amount of dextrose in the medium is used by the organism within the first ten hours
of incubation. After that time, the reaction that produced acid reverts in the aerobic areas of the
slant, and the medium in those areas turns red, indicating alkaline conditions. The anaerobic
areas of the slant, such as the butt, will not revert to an alkaline state, and they will remain
yellow. This happens with Salmonella sp and Shigella sp.
CONCLUSION
This experiment is conducted to allow the students to identify the characteristics of
gram negative rod shaped bacteria as well as to expose students to food spoilage characteristics
causing by gram negative bacteria. The objectives of this experiment is successfully achieved.
REFERENCES
1. http://www.columbia.edu/itc/hs/medical/pathophys/id/2009/introNotes.pdf
2. https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/wcm/connect/dcbfde80-3d65-4b21-9685-
9d6676367aac/PHVt-Food_Microbiology.pdf?MOD=AJPERES
3. http://cytalabs.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Synthesis-of-the-Cell-Surface-
during-the-Division-Cycle-of.pdf