1. What is peptone? How is peptone produced? Name a few types of peptone in the
market. What are the nutrients supplied by peptone?
Peptone is a water-soluble compound which is derived from hydrolysis during the digest
...
1. What is peptone? How is peptone produced? Name a few types of peptone in the
market. What are the nutrients supplied by peptone?
Peptone is a water-soluble compound which is derived from hydrolysis during the digesting
process of protein. They are obtained by enzymatic digestion or acid hydrolysis of natural
products, such as animal tissues, milk, plants or microbial cultures. (Anon, 2018) There are
few types of peptone can be found in market selling items which are soy peptone, pea
peptone, yeast extracts and meat extracts. Peptone usually acts as the source of nitrogen and
carbon.
2. How is the meat extract and yeast prepared? What are the specific nutrients
produced by these ingredients.
Meat extract is prepared by breaking down the meat by using enzymes which is called
enzymatic hydrolysis of meat. Meanwhile for yeast, it is derived from an aqueous extract of
brewer's yeast. These ingredients produce specific nutrients such as vitamins, amino acids
and organic nitrogen compounds.
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3. From what is agar produced? What are the chemical characteristics of agar?
State the function of agar in culture media? At what temperature is nutrient agar
dissolved? and becomes solid?
Agar is made primarily from the red algae Gelidium and Gracilaria (division
Rhodophyta). Agar is insoluble in cold water, it absorbs as much as 20 times its own
weight. It dissolves readily in boiling water. It appears as liquid in hot condition but
change to solid gel-like substance in cold condition. (Petruzzello, M. 2017). Agar is
frequently used for isolation and purification of cultures. (Aryal, S., 2015) It is also
used in the cultivation and maintenance of non-fastidious species by providing
nutrients for the growth of microorganisms. Nutrient agar is dissolved at 85°C and
becomes solid at around 32-40°C. (Science Buddies, 2018)
Conclusion
Sterilization technique is important skills to acquire whether it is in research
field or medical field as it removes or destroy all forms of microbial life on laboratory
apparatus to prevent contamination that brings harmful effects to our health. If the
sample that we wanted to study is contaminated, we could not have the accurate
behaviour of the microorganism which makes the results of the experiment unreliable.
Not only that, after the experiment, sterilization help us to kill the remaining
microorganism so that it will not have an out-break of diseases while studying them.
References:
Ahern, H., 2018. Bacteriological Culture Methods – Microbiology
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