Micro Biology Identification of Unknown Bacteria

You will sign up for an Unknown Number using the Google Sheets link in D2L. Please, write down your Unknown Number in a safe place. Complete the Unknown Survey Quiz in D2L. Once you complete the unknown survey quiz, you will see Gram stain and morphology results. Based on your unknown number, identify your unknown organism as Gram-negative rod, Gram-positive coccus, or Gram-positive rod. You will then proceed with the identification process using a variety of biochemical tests. The first test that you will be using is the Phenol Red Sugar Broth (both glucose AND lactose). This test is mandatory for everyone regardless of your unknown and it must be the FIRST test to run in the identification process. You must complete the Phenol Red Glucose and Phenol Red Lactose Connect lab reports before the results are displayed for you. This rule will apply to ALL biochemical tests. All the other tests that are listed in the table and in the Unknown report must ONLY be used IF you need it (according to the unknown table). Running unnecessary tests will result in loss of points. You CANNOT run every single test on your unknown (that is not how this works!). You have to decide which test is good for your unknown. Once you have identified your unknown, you must stop running tests. I will not confirm the identity of your unknown.

The Unknown report can be found in the Assignment folder. While all tests are listed there, you must only report those tests that you ran on your unknown. For each test, you must type the results and the interpretation. For example, if my phenol red glucose broth was yellow without a bubble in the Durham tube, then the results are listed as A/- and the interpretation is “My organism is able to ferment glucose but doesn’t produce CO2 gas”. You will do that for every single

test that you ran. For tests that look for multiple reactions, such as SIM, you must list all results (S, I, and M) regardless of whether they helped you to identify your unknown or not. I should be able to track your thought process as you are listing the tests and the rationale of why you chose the next test. Once you have identified your organism, you must do some research as directed on last page of Unknown report document.