Hello Zoza,
To obtain axenic cultures of algae penicillin, tetracycline, chloramphenicol, aureomycin, neomycin, ceporin or streptomycin can be used individually or in synergy. The dosage disffers with the media and the species to be cultured as well as the susceptibility of the cells to certain group of bacteria. However, many times the anitibiotics themselves had been proven to be algicidal and at times they disrupt the normal physiology of the cells. A link to a useful papaer in this regard
Use of UV radiation can be effective if measured dosages (microWatt/cm2) are employed using germicidal commercial uv light sources but the risk of damaging the phycocyanin or chlorophyll remain and you need to carefully monitor the effect of such irradiance of the species you intend to culture.
The best method for you is to use ultrasonic frequencies to dislodge bacterial cells without introduction of damage or artifacts to the cultured cells at a rate of 40% of the amplitude in uniform intervals for gradually increasing time spans. A link to such a paper is
I hope I have satisfied your queries and helped you in some capacity.
With best regards,
Dr. Abhishek Mukherjee
I am not quite sure what you are trying to achieve ..bacteria free? First I would try to get the culture as clean as possible ...through dilution or growth on 2% agar with inorganic nutrients .. then I would use various sensi discs with antibiotics to determine which ones or in combination -again on agar .. killed bacteria and not algae. By the clear field .... the antibiotics may work synergisticly.. then I would mix up liquid medium and treat with the antibiotic mix you determined .. then dilute out as much as possible .. and start with as few cells as possible in clean medium ..needless to say do this all in a sterile hood environment.. not sure I’ve would work well.. this all depends on what species of algae or fresh water or salt water .. some species of algae also need bacteria or algae to grow. Hope this helps?
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