Dear colleagues.
I have received samples of K.pneumoniae contaminated with Proteus spp. As a result, it is impossible to obtain single colonies of K.pneumoniae due to overgrowth of Proteus. What is your advice for separating these bacterial cultures? Who has experienced this problem?
Try streaking out for single colonies but stop the incubation when the colonies are still very small (8-12 hours) so that the Proteus has not yet taken over the plate. Even when the colonies are small you should be able to see colony morphology differences so that you can distinguish them and restreak.
Do a serial dilution to try for single/few colonies and plate lots of plates. Hopefully some will have your species in isolation or far enough away from the other species to allow for a colony re-streak.
Try increasing the salt concentration. Higher salinity can make some motile bacterial species become sessile.
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