« Our Counterintelligence Staph | Main | A Fastidious Bacteriophage »

Comments

mschaech@sunstroke.sdsu.edu

Stan comments on these comments:

By definition, a Talmudic Question shouldn't have a simple answer. This one surely depends greatly on what Your Favorite Bacterium is, and what medium you grow it on, and how you incubate it.

If YFB is a swarmer, you may be able to inhibit swarming (say, by making the agar 5% NaCl) and then ask the Question.

Some combinations of bacterium and medium can indeed give bacterial growth that is inhibited only by the drying-out of the agar. You can control for this by putting a stack of filter paper in the lid of the Petri dish and keeping it soaked for days or weeks, until the colony covers the whole plate.

Some combos really give a finite colony size. This seems generally to result from toxic products (poorly diffusible?) released from the bacteria. Perhaps a better medium - say, one without sugar, if YFB is a fermenter - will give bigger colonies. Do near-by colonies of YFB fuse as they grow, or inhibit each other?

Do not try to answer this Talmudic Question if YSB produces an agarase.

-- Stan Zahler

Verify your Comment

Previewing your Comment

This is only a preview. Your comment has not yet been posted.

Working...
Your comment could not be posted. Error type:
Your comment has been saved. Comments are moderated and will not appear until approved by the author. Post another comment

The letters and numbers you entered did not match the image. Please try again.

As a final step before posting your comment, enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below. This prevents automated programs from posting comments.

Having trouble reading this image? View an alternate.

Working...

Post a comment

Comments are moderated, and will not appear until the author has approved them.

Your Information

(Name is required. Email address will not be displayed with the comment.)