When the team initially searched online for how to isolate cellulose-degrading bacteria, the paper entitled “Isolation of Cellulose-Degrading Bacteria and Determination of Their Cellulolytic Potential” by Pratima Gupta, Kalpana Samant and Avinash Sahu was the first article to appear. As it so happens, this team based in India were attempting to isolate cellulose-degrading bacteria on media from the guts of organisms such as termites, bookworms, snails and caterpillars. The paper itself is very interesting and it provided the team a recipe for how to make cellulose media.
The Ingredients:
KH2PO4 0.5g
MgSO4 0.25g
Cellulose 2g
Agar 15g
Congo-red 0.2g
Gelatin 2g
Distilled water 1L
pH 6.8-7.2
The addition of Congo-red allowed for easy identification of cellulose-degrading colonies as colonies showing discolouration were considered positive for cellulose-degrading activity. You can see our cellulose plates in action by looking back on previous blog posts!
-Emma Finlayson-Trick
