ISOLATION & PRESERVATION

METHODS FOR PURE

CULTURE

Deepankar ratha,
Assistant Professor,
CUTM,Rayagada
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 Pure Culture Technique
• Culture : Act of cultivating microorganisms or the
microorganisms that are cultivated

Mixed culture : more than one microorganism

Pure culture : containing a single species of organism.

• A pure culture is usually derived from a mixed culture (one

containing many species) by transferring a small sample into
new, sterile growth medium in such a manner as to disperse the
individual cells across the medium surface or by thinning the
sample many times before inoculating the new medium.

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 Why important ?
Pure cultures are important in microbiology for the following reasons-

1.Once purified, the isolated species can then be cultivated with the
knowledge that only the desired microorganism is being grown.
2. A pure culture can be correctly identified for accurate studyingand
testing, and diagnosis in a clinical environment.
3.Testing/experimenting with a pure culture ensures that the same
results can be achieved regardless of how many time the test is
repeated.

o Pure culture spontaneous mutation rate is low

o Pure culture clone is 99.999% identical

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 ISOLATION TECHNIQUE OF
PURE CULTURE
•Cultures composed of cells arising from a single progenitor

•Progenitor is termed a CFU

•Aseptic technique prevents contamination of sterile substances or

objects

•Common isolation techniques

-Streak plate method

-Pour plate method
-Spread plate method
-Roll tube method
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1.Streak platemethod
• Streaking is the process of spreading the microbial culture with an inoculating
needle on the surface of themedia.
• Sterilizethe inoculating needle byflame to make red hot andallow it to coolfor 30
seconds.
• Thesampleisstreakedinsuchawaytoprovideseriesofdilution.
• purpose-thinoutinnoculumtogetsepratecolonies.
• subculturingcanbedonebystreakingwel isolatedcoloniesfromstreakplatetonewplate.

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2. Pour plate method
• Thebacterial culture andliquid agarmedium aremixedtogether.
• After mixing the medium, the medium containing the culture poured into sterilized
petridishes ( petriplates), allowed solidifying and thenincubated.

• After incubation colonies appear on the surface.

DISADVANTAGES-
1.Microorganism trapped beneath the surface of medium hence surface as wel as subsurface
coloniesaredevelopedwhich makesthedifficuktiesincountingthebacterialcolony.

2. Tidious and time consuming method, microbes are subjected to heat shock because liquid
mediummaintainedat45℃.

3. Unsuitable-Psychrophile
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3. Spread plate method
• Thisisthe bestmethod to isolate thepure colonies.

• In this technique, the culture is not mixed with the agar medium. Instead it is mixed with
normal saline andserialy diluted.
• 0.1 ml of sample taken from diluted mixture, which is placed on the surface of the agar plate
and spreadevenlyover the surfacebyusingLshaped glassrod caledspreader.

• Incubate theplates

• After incubation, coloniesareobservedon the agar surface.

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ADVANTAGES

1. It isasimplemethod.

2. In this method only surfacecoloniesare formed.

3. Micro-organismsarenot exposedto higher temperature.

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4. Roll tube method.

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5. Micromanipulator method
Micromanipulators have been built, which permit one to pick out a single cell from a mixed
culture. This instrument is used in conjunction with a microscope to pick a single cell
(particularly bacterial cell) from a hanging drop preparation.
the single cell of microbe sucked into micropipette and transfered to large amount of sterile
medium.

ADVANTAGES OF MICROMANIPULATOR METHOD-

The advantages of this method are that one can be reasonably sure that the cultures come
from a single cell and one can obtain strains with in the species.

DISADVANTAGES-

The disadvantages are that the equipment is expensive,its

manipulation is very tedious, and it requires a skilled person.

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 PRESERVATION OF PURE
CULTURE
T o maintain pure culture for extended periods in viable condition without
any genetic change is referred as Preservation.

Durin g preservation most important factor is to stop microbial growth or at least

lower the growth rate.

D u e to this toxic chemicals are not accumulated and hence viability of

microorganism is not affected.

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Objectives of preservation
1. To maintain isolated pure culture for extended periods in a viable conditions.

2. To avoid contamination

3. To restrict Genetic Mutation

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Why to Preserve Bacteria?
❖ In nature there are only 1% bacteria which is pathogenic and harmful to
Animalia and Plantae.

❖ 99% of bacterial populations are of economic importance

for human beings and plants.

❖ In soil for nutrient uptake in food industry,in sewage treatment,inmedical

industry.

❖ So the preservation of bacteria is one of the most profitable

practice economically as well as environmentally.

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1. Academic purpose
2. Reserch Purpose
3. Biotechnology field
4. Fermentation Industry

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Preservation methods of Bacteria

1. Periodic trnsfer to fresh medium

2. Storage at low temprature

3. Storage in sterile soil

4. Preservation by overlaying culture with mineral oil

5. Lyophillization or freeze drying

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 1. Periodic transfer to fresh medium

• Strains can be maintained by periodically preparing a fresh

culture from the previous stock culture.
• The culture medium, the storage temperature, and the time interval at which the
transfers are made vary with the species .
• The temperature and the type of medium chosen should support a slow rather than a
rapid rate of growth so that the time interval between transfers can be as long as
possible.
• Many of the more common heterotrophs remain viable for several weeks or months
on a medium like NutrientAgar.

• The transfer method has the disadvantage of failing to prevent changes in the
characteristics of a strain due to the development of variants and mutants.

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2. Storage at low temprature

1. REFRIGERATION

2. CRYOPRESERVATION

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 1. REFRIGERATION
❖ Pure cultures can be successfully stored at 0-4°C either in refrigerators or in
cold-rooms.
❖ This method is applied for short duration (2-3 weeks for bacteria and 3-4
months for fungi) because the metabolic activities of the microorganisms are
greatly slowed down but not stopped.
❖ Thus their growth continue slowly, nutrients are utilized and waste products
released in medium.

❖ This results in finally the death of the micro

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 2. CRYOPRESERVATION
❖ Cryopreservation (i.e., freezing in liquid nitrogen at -196°C or in the gas phase above the
liquid nitrogen at -150°C) helps survival of pure cultures for long storage times.
❖ In this method, the microorganisms of culture are rapidly frozen in liquid nitrogen at -
196°C in the presence of stabilizing agents such as glycerol or Dimethyl Sulfoxide
(DMSO) that prevent the cell damage due to formation of ice crystals and promote cell
survival.
❖ This liquid nitrogen method has been successful with many species that cannot be
preserved by lyophilization and most species can remain viable under these conditions for
10 to 30 years without undergoing change in their characteristics, however this method is
expensive.

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 3. Storage in sterile soil

Storing organisms in soil fall into two groups;

1 sterile soil infested with small amount of inoculum,immediately

dried and stored in refrigerator.

2 Soil infested with the organism,than incubated allowing

The organism to grow;thus the mycelium and propagative unitof

second generation are preserved.

The soil preservation method is useful for fungi,and by this method actinomycetes are
maintained in soil for 4 to 5 years,and there are several bacterial spp which are also
maintained in soi for several years.

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 4.Preservation by overlaying culture with mineral oil

1. This is a simple and most economical method of maintaining pure cultures.

2. In this method, sterile liquid paraffin is poured over the slant (slope) of culture and
stored upright at room temperature. The layer of paraffin ensures anaerobic
conditions and prevents dehydration of the medium.
3. This condition helps microorganisms or pure culture to remain in a dormant state
and, therefore, the culture can be preserved form months to years (varies with
species).

ADVANTAGES
1. We can remove some of the growth under the oil with a transfer needle, inoculate a
fresh medium, and still preserve the original culture.
2. The simplicity of the method makes it attractive, but changes in the characteristics of
a strain can still occur.

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 5. Lyophillization or freeze drying
• Freeze drying is a stabilizing process in which a substance is first frozen and
then the quantity of the solvent is reduced, first by sublimation (primary
drying stage) and then desorption (secondary drying stage)
• Better preservation occurs with freeze-drying than with other methods because
freeze-drying reduces the risk of intracellular ice crystallization that compromises
viability

• Removal of water from the specimen effectively prevents this damage

• Lyophilization is greatest with gram-positivebacteria (spore formers) and decrese
with gram -negative bactetia but viability can be maintained as long as 30 years.

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• Large numbers of vials of dried microorganisms can be stored with limited space, and
organisms can be easily transported long distances atroomtemperature

• The process combines freezing and dehydration- Organisms are initially frozen and
then dried by lowering the atmospheric pressure with a vacuumapparatus

• Specimens can be connected individually to the condenser (manifold method) or can

be placed (in a chamber) where they are dehydrated in one larger airspace

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Lyophillization Process

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StorageVials
1. Glassvials are used for allfreeze-driedspecimens
2. When freeze-drying is performed in a chamber, double glass
vials are used

3. (chamber method) : an outer soft glass vial is added

for protection and preservation of the dehydratedspecimen
4. Silica gel granules are placed in the bottom of the outer
vial before the inner vial is inserted and cushioned withcotton

5. Manifoldmethod- a single glass vial is used

6. storage vial must be sealed to maintain the vacuum and the
dry atmospheric condition

CryoprotectiveAgents
Two most commonly used agentsare
❖ Skim milk for chamber lyophilization,and
❖ sucrose for manifoldlyophilization 32
 ADVANTAGES
❖ Removal of wateratlow temperature

❖ Thermolabilematerialscanbe dried.

❖ Sterilitycanbemaintained.

❖ Reconstitution iseasy

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 DISADVANTAGES
❖ Many biological molecules are damaged by the stress associated with freezing, freeze-
drying, or both.

❖ E.g. the process of drying causes extensive damage to molds, protozoa, and most
viruses

❖ Hence, these microorganisms can not be stored by thismethod

❖ The product is prone to oxidation, due to high porosity and large surface area. Therefore
the product should be packed in vacuum or using inertgas

❖ Cost may be an issue, depending on theproduct

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