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Any type of liquid, even water, will do fine. Although agar is best recommended as it has a lot of nutrients, allowing lots of bacteria to grow. Other liquids work but they don't grow as much and as vigorously.
Wiki User
∙ 12y ago
Wiki User
∙ 14y agoThey grow bacteria in agar because it is a controlled environment, a great medium for testing. Just to list a few reasons:
-Test for the mobility of bacteria. Agar can be made to be more 'soft' or 'hard' depending on how you mix it; soft agar will allow bacteria with mobility to slowly 'swim' through it.
-Positive or negative selection of bacteria. Antibiotics added to the agar can select for resistant strains, or a certain chemical can induce the growth of a wanted bacteria and/or stop the growth of unwanted bacteria.
-Test for properties of bacteria. Certain chemicals can be added to the agar that will change color if the bacteria produce, consume, or change it.
-Test if certain bacteria can survive in oxygen or lack thereof. Agar placed in test tubes will show growth at the bottom, middle, and/or top.
Note: Agar itself is not a source of nutrition but they add certain needed elements to it, such as sugars, defined chemicals, or broth.
Wiki User
∙ 12y agoThe agar used to grow bacteria is enriched for a general growth of bacteria. Certain agar's however, are specifically enriched for growing a specific bacteria eg. Mannitol Salt Agar for Staphylococcus aureus, etc.
Wiki User
∙ 15y agoYes. It grows great in liquid. (Large scale cultures are done in liquid form, not in agar.)
Wiki User
∙ 9y agoYou can grow bacteria using broth, Gelatin or milk. All of these things would work because it would be a solid surface or it has nutrient.
Wiki User
∙ 15y agoNo mostly bacteria did not feed on agar.
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What workplace uses agar?
Agar is a solid form of nutrient for different strains of bacteria. Anyone who needs to grow bacteria for use in their labs or experiments would use agar.
Can you use blood to grow bacteria on petridishes?
Bacteria will grow in blood but no the growing medium in petri dishes should be clear agar.
Why do bacteria grow heavily on starch agar but don't produce alpha amylase?
The ingredients in starch agar consist of carbohydrate sources in addition to starch. For example, starch could be added to trypticase soy agar (TSA) to test for hydrolysis. Remember, microorganisms are highly versatile and just because they cannot utilize certain nutrients does not mean that they cannot grow in the presence of that substance (in this case starch).
Difference between Luria agar and Luria broth?
Luria agar is Luria broth with the addition of 15 grams per liter agar. Agar is a solidifying agent that makes the liquid media solid at room temperature. Hence, luria agar would be a petri dish of agar while luria broth would be liquid to go in a tube or flask.
What is the procedural difference between using broth and agar as a source of bacteria for preparing a smear?
If your colonies were grown in broth, you can simply use your loop to collect loopfuls of liquid medium and smear that onto a glass slide. If they were grown on an agar plate you would have to add a few drops of water to the surface of the glass slide.
What workplace uses agar?
Agar is a solid form of nutrient for different strains of bacteria. Anyone who needs to grow bacteria for use in their labs or experiments would use agar.
Can you use blood to grow bacteria on petridishes?
Bacteria will grow in blood but no the growing medium in petri dishes should be clear agar.
How do you recognize bacteria on agar plate and not confusing bacteria with eukaryotes like yeast or fungi?
Use selective media agar plates. Different types of agar will let bacteria grow and inhibit fungal growth, or vice versa.
Why do you grow bacteria on agar jelly?
Put agar jelly in a petri dish to sterilize the dish and then use something like a sterile inoculating loop to put the bacteria on the jelly. Then, seal the petri dish but make sure it is not airtight.
Why use Azide blood agar MacConkey agar and Nutrient agar plates for identification of microorganisms?
Azide blood agar base contains sodium azide which has been proved to have a bacteriostatic effect on Gram-negative bacteria, thus this medium is used for the isolation of streptococci and staphylococci in clinical specimens, water, foods, etc. MacConkey agar is designed to grow Gram-negative bacteria and differentiate them for lactose fermentation. Nutrient agar is used for the routine cultivation of non-fastidious bacteria.
Why to use soft agar in phage titration?
Phage can move easily in soft agar,it can bind with another bacteria after lysis
What is the container used for growing mold or bacteria called?
the containor used for growing mold and bacteria is the PETRI DISH. a lot of people use agar as the gel to grow mold and bacteria
Why do bacteria grow heavily on starch agar but don't produce alpha amylase?
The ingredients in starch agar consist of carbohydrate sources in addition to starch. For example, starch could be added to trypticase soy agar (TSA) to test for hydrolysis. Remember, microorganisms are highly versatile and just because they cannot utilize certain nutrients does not mean that they cannot grow in the presence of that substance (in this case starch).
Difference between Luria agar and Luria broth?
Luria agar is Luria broth with the addition of 15 grams per liter agar. Agar is a solidifying agent that makes the liquid media solid at room temperature. Hence, luria agar would be a petri dish of agar while luria broth would be liquid to go in a tube or flask.
Why would you grow bacteria in petri dishes?
put agar in a Petri dish, then use a Q-tip to wipe a dirty surface, then spread it on the Petri dish in a zigzag motion, then it will grow over time.
What are the uses and advantages of slant agar?
Slant agar is great to use because it allows researchers to consolidate a wide variety of bacteria they wish to store in a very small space such as a test tube rack. It has the similar benefits of TSA plates, but can be kept much easier.
What agar gel is used to culture germs?
Agar is a non-nutritive substrate to which nutrients are added . It is used as a solidifying agent in bacterial culture media. Without agar, the medium is liquid while when agar is included, the medium becomes solid (gel-like) soon after cooling.Unlike liquid media, solid media give the opportunity that bacteria can grow as separated colonies. This helps to identify bacteria because different types of bacteria have different types of colony morphology (shape, color, size, etc).The first step to check if a specific type of bacteria is present in a specimen is to separate this bacteria from the other types of bacteria present . This is accomplished by cultivating a small portion of the specimen on solid media to give separated colonies.There are many different types of agar containing media. The most common is nutrient agar as it is considered the least selective and most microbes can grow on it, it is made with beef broth. However, microbiologists will try many things to get fussy bacteria to grow including extract of armadillo! Some media are designed to only allow the growth of certain bacterial species to help microbiologist narrow down their search. These are called selective media. Some media are designed with colour change tests in them so as to allow the further narrowing down of the species of bacteria. These are called differential media.
