I'm working in the field of bioremediation, presently identifying the capability of the bacterial consortium in degrading aromatic hydrocarbons. When I thaw the stock sample and resuspend it in the broth (which I had used earlier for my experiments), there is a significant reduction in the degradation efficiency of the consortium. Can it be due any change in the consortium profile (relative abundance of bacteria)? Shall I prepare the glycerol stock of the isolated strains and then perform the experiment by individually ading the bacterium?
Definitely, one must preserve the consortium in glycerol. I think the reduction may be due to lack of proper combination of the strains constituting the consortium. The consortium consisted of few strains now, if you have seen (through experiments) what combination (in number of viable count) then it would be possible for for you to track the problem. If not i think you can determine in which combination (as far as number is concerned) the consortium works best.
There can be one more reason, may be viability of any one/more partner strains constituting the consortium may have gone low/lost.
Some bacteria are more sensitive than others to freezing in glycerol, as Pradipta suggests. It would be wise to establish if the relative composition of thawed sample is the same as that before freezing. This way you will know who to proceed when you need to re-start the consortium (i.e. from thawed individual stocks or from the mix).
Thank you Pradipta Saha and Nara Figueroa-Bossi for the comments. Surely I will try to isolate and find out the relative abundance of the different bacterium in the mixture and see the difference in the results.
I have a doubt regarding the answer of Dimitry Yu Sorokin. If we centrfuge the glycerol stock, will the bacterial cells will not settle down??
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