Fungi

Rhizopus stolonifer

Aspergillus niger

Penicillium notatum/chrysogenum

Class Room Activities

Collecting our own saliva, yum

Flame that loop!Jodi carefully labels a specimen

To Know and be Known

We started out making working slants for our unknown. Next we isolated our unknowns on PEA, MSA and EMB. My #30 made the same flourescent yellow halo on MSA as the control Staph. aureus did. It also would show similare growth and fermentation patterns when compared to Staph. aureus as a control. In this way I was lucky, since most of the other unknowns did not use a control that was the same microbe. Our controls where usually S. aureus, Bacillus subtilis, E. coli, Psuedomonas aerugenosa or Proteus vulgaris. Still from the MSA experiment onward I was pretty sure I was dealing with S. aureus and it soon became my favorite microbe. It's a very common microbe that lives as normal flora on the skin and nasal passages. It can become a pathogen if there is a break in the skin and the microbe enteres the sterile tissue below. Infact I saw a show about a girl who obtained a S. aureus infection in her brain due to a head injury. There is a highly virulent strain called MRSA S. aures. MRSA stands for Methicillin Resistant Staph. Aureus. My lab partner was shown to have this after we did nasal swabs and isolted our own microbes. She was put on some heavy antibiotics to clear herself of carriage. I hope I didn't pick up this hand me down from her. Staph aureus is a non-spore forming cocci that forms irregulare groups or clumps. The name Satphylococcus Aureus in in Greek literally means golden clusters of grapes. When isolated on media it almost always produces a golden colored growth. It is non-motile and a facultative aerobe which means it prefers aerobic conditions but will also grow, though not as well, in anaerobic conditions. Staph. aureus is Catalase positive and Oxidase negative. It test positive for Gelatinase, DNase and Lypase but does not posses the enzyme amylase. Staph. aureus tolerates NaCl and ferments mannitol. It also tolerates phenyl ethyl alcohol and Eosin-methyline blue. It is Urease negative and MR+ and VP +/-. The IMViC test for Staph. aureus will be completely negative and ferments Sucrose, Lactose or Glucose. My unknown also had similare growth patterns to the S. aureus control when comparing resistance and susceptability to Iodine, Alcohol, H2O2 and Lysol. Just like Staph. aureus it was Susceptable to H2O2, Lysol and Iodine but resistant to Alcohol. This wasn't surprising since S. aureus will grow on Phenyl Ethyl Alcohol agar. Yellow growth on my working slant as well as growth in nutrient broth.

Golden colonies on Nutrient Agar

Similare growth on MSA to Staph. aureus. Tolerates NaCl and ferments Mannitol.

Similare growth on EMB to Staph. aureus. Tolerates Eosin but does not ferment.

Similare growth on PEA to Staph. aureus. Tolerates PEA.

Urease -, MR-VP - (MR should be +), Citrate -, SIM -

Media indicates #30 is facultative

#30 shows similare resistance to H2O2, Lysol and Iodine as Staph. aureus and Resistance to Alcohol

#30 golden growth and starch hydolysis

Ferments Sucrose, Lactose and Glucose
DNase +

Lipase + (slight halo)

Golden growth on Starch Agar

Does not posses enzyme Amylase

4 Unknown Microbes

A. Non-pigmented (white) colonies on BAP. Gamma hemolysis on blood agar. Poor growth and does not ferment Mannitol. Tolersates bile and hydrolyzes esculin. Groth in 6.5% NaCl broth @ 42c. DNase negative. "S" Novobiocin "S" SXT, though this maybe an error on my part "R" Bacitracin "R" Optochin.
Organism most likely Enterococcus faecalis

B. Pigmented (yellow) colonies on BAP. Beta hemolysis on on BAP. Tolerates NaCl and ferments Mannitol. Tolerates bile but does not hydrolyze esculin. Growth in 6.5% NaCl broth @ 42c. DNase positive. "S" Novobiocin "S" SXT "R" Bacitracin "R" Optochin.
Organism is most likely Staphylococcus aureus

C. Non-pigmented colonies on BAP. Gamma hemolysis on BAP. Tolerates NaCl but does not ferment Mannitol. Tolerates Bile but does not hydrolyze esculin. Growth in 6.5% NaCl broth @42c. DNase positive. "S" Novobiocin "S" SXT "R" Bacitracin "R" Optochin.
Organism is most likely Staphylococcus epidermidis

E. Don't ask where D went cuz I don't know.
Non-pigmented colonies on BAP. Beta hemolysis on BAP. Does not tolerate NaCl and does not ferment Mannitol. Does not tolerate bile and does not hydrolyze esculin. No growth in 6.5% NaCl broth @ 42c. DNase positive. "S" Novobiocin "R" SXT "S" Bacitracin "R" Optochin.
Organism is most likely Streptococcus pyogenes

This Weeks Media

I tested my unknown in a variety of media.

Here are the results:

Urea -

Gelatinase error in media

Citrate -