#microbial preservation

Storage of fungi in soil

Various fungi such as Cylindrocladium, Fusarium, Melanospaora, Nectria, Thielavia, Penicillium, Alternaria, Aspergillus, Rhizopus etc. Proved successful for storage in sterilized soil. 

Procedure to store fungi in soil 

Grow the culture on a suitable solid medium till it forms spores. 

Suspend the spores in 1 ml sterile water. 

Place garden soil in a bottle, autoclave twice and pour sterile water…

Microbial preservation in mineral oil

Pre-sterilized mineral oil or liquid paraffin or medical paraffin of specific gravity 0.83 – 0.89 g are used for preservation of microbes. It prevents dehydration and slow metabolic activity by reduced growth through reduced oxygen tension. This method is recommended for preservation of fungal cultures. 

Procedure of microbial preservation in mineral oil 

Grow the culture in suitable medium in a…

Microbial storage in Gelatin Discs

In this technique, bacterial strains after growth is obtained and suspended in molten nutrient gelatin. The drops of the molten gelatin are allowed to solidify on Petri dish and allowed to dry over a desiccant. This method is easy to use and help to store the culture free from contaminants. This is recommended for preserving various species of Enterobacteriaceae, Staphylococci etc. Such as Pseudo…

Methods of Culture Preservation and Maintenance

Microorganisms are generally maintained by culture collection centers which are set up with the prime objective of conserving microbial diversity and valuable germplasm. The main goal of these culture collections is to act as a depository, supplying authentic microbial strains to researchers and to provide the strains for help in teaching. Sometimes these authentic cultures also help in the…