Mordant reagents are used in staining techniques to help bind dyes to specific structures. Different mordants are needed for different types of dyes and tissue components. For example, in Gram staining, the mordant reagent is iodine, which helps bind the crystal violet dye to the bacterial cell wall.
Iodine is used as a mordant in the gram staining procedure to make large crystals when it is used with crystal violet dye. In gram positive cell walls those crystals get stuck and wont get washed off with the alcohol. In gram negative cell walls the crystals are washed out.
Gram's iodine stain is applied after the culture is stained with the primary stain. It acts as a mordant, fixing the primary stain to the cell wall while lending no additional colour to the cell (i.e. the mordant itself is not a stain). The mordant is only able to fix the stain to Gram-positive bacteria because of the characteristic thick, peptidoglycan coat that they possess. Because the mordant is not able to fix the stain to Gram-negative bacteria (who's coat have a different composition), the crystal violet stain will wash away from Gram-negative bacteria when the decolourizing agent is added.
It is crystal violet & stains all cells purple.
Mycoplasma does not have a cell wall, so it does not stain with traditional Gram reagents like crystal violet and safranin. Instead, it is commonly stained using specialized stains like DAPI (4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole) for visualization under fluorescence microscopy.
The mordant used in the process of gram staining is called crystal violet.
Mordant reagents are used in staining techniques to help bind dyes to specific structures. Different mordants are needed for different types of dyes and tissue components. For example, in Gram staining, the mordant reagent is iodine, which helps bind the crystal violet dye to the bacterial cell wall.
Iodine is used in Gram staining as a mordant, which helps to bind the crystal violet dye to the cell wall of bacteria. This mordant-iodine complex forms larger complexes with the crystal violet dye, making it difficult for the dye to be washed away during the decolorization step. This allows for differentiation of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria based on their ability to retain the crystal violet dye.
The steps in Gram staining are:1. crystal violet added to the smear2. iodine, the mordant (this fixes the violet)3. a decolorizer made of acetone and alcohol4. safranin, the counterstainIf the cell is Gram +, the decolorizer can not remove the violet. If it is Gram -, the decolorizer can remove the violet and the cell can be then colored with the dye, safranin.Bacteria are grouped in 4 groups by Gram stain:Gram-positive, the cell wall retains crystal Violet.Gram-negative, the cell wall does not retain crystal Violet.Graham not reactive, no staining whatsoever.Graham variable, uneven staining.
The reagents used in the Gram stain method include crystal violet (primary stain), iodine (mordant), alcohol or acetone (decolorizer), and safranin (counterstain). These reagents are used to differentiate bacteria into Gram-positive (retain purple stain) and Gram-negative (stain red) based on their cell wall composition.
Without mordant, E. coli would appear pink or red after Gram staining due to retaining the safranin counterstain, indicating that it is a Gram-negative bacterium. The absence of the mordant would prevent the crystal violet stain from binding strongly to the peptidoglycan layer in the cell wall, leading to this coloration.
The resultant crystal violet- iodine (CV-1) complex serves to intensify the-color of the stain. At this point, all cells will appear purple black.
The charge of crystal violet is positive.
The resultant crystal violet- iodine (CV-1) complex serves to intensify the-color of the stain. At this point, all cells will appear purple black.
iodine act as a mordant..on the gram positive bacteria which got really thick and abundence of peptidoglycan layer, the crystal violet will fix to the peptidoglycan layer..meanwhile in gram negative bacteria which is lack of peptidoglycan layer, the alcohol or acetone will wash it away
Iodine is used as a mordant in the gram staining procedure to make large crystals when it is used with crystal violet dye. In gram positive cell walls those crystals get stuck and wont get washed off with the alcohol. In gram negative cell walls the crystals are washed out.
After the addition of mordant in the Gram stain, gram-negative bacteria will appear red or pink under the microscope. This is because the mordant helps to fix the crystal violet stain to the cell wall of gram-positive bacteria, making it harder for the decolorizer to remove it from the thicker peptidoglycan layer of gram-positive bacteria.