I found this organism in my Petri dish following soil serial dilution. It is embedded in the media and is showing a branched- like pattern. I am relatively new to microbiology and I can not figure out if this is a fungus or a bacterium. Please help my to identify this organism or its family.
Thanks in advance.
Najya
u should do examine microscopy then take photo but i think it contamination , any way fungi colony tend to grow to the surface of the dish because it aerobic, but some of bacteria can grow anaerobically.
Najya Jabeen Poolakkalody Did you add cycloheximide to the agar plate? This is normally added to prevent fungal growth.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycloheximide
@M.Y. Shukor It was a selective media for feruloyl esterase producing microbes. I wanted to know if I could find bacteria or fungi. This organism is useful for me.
If you have access to a microscope I would stain it on a slide and look at it. Fungal cells tend to be bigger than bacteria so that might give you a hint. How it's growing kind of reminds me of Paenibacillus.
@Alexandra Johnson, Thank you for the suggestion, I will try that.
I would agree that a number of Bacilli can grow in this form generating feather-like growth under certain conditions and a wide number of bacteria change their form under stress or nutrient lacking conditions. Sample, Gram stain and lacto-cotton blue the sample and examine microscopically. The Gram will identify bacteria while the latter will identify fungi and yeast.
u should do examine microscopy then take photo but i think it contamination , any way fungi colony tend to grow to the surface of the dish because it aerobic, but some of bacteria can grow anaerobically.
If you have access to phase contrast or Nomarski optics look to see if the cells have nuclei. If so, it is a fungus. If not, it is a bacterium or an archaea. If it is a bacterium Bacillus or the actinomycetes are good possibilities (including streptomycetes like the one which makes streptomycin). You can try pcr of the 16s ribosomal DNA to be sure what it is.
You must prepare a slide in order to see it under compound microscope by using suitable focusing. Generally, its not a fungus.
If you dont wish the bacteria to grow in Petri dish, you must add a suitable antibacerial antibiotic such as chloramphenicol to the media to prevent bacteria growth and allow the fungi to grow easily.
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