Streptomyces Agar

Streptomyces Agar is recommended for the cultivation and maintenance of Streptomyces.

Composition**

**Formula adjusted, standardized to suit performance parameters

Directions

Suspend 32.00 grams in 1000 ml distilled water. Heat just to boiling. Sterilize by autoclaving at 15 lbs pressure (121°C) for 15 minutes. Mix well and dispense as desired.

Note: Due to presence of calcium carbonate, the prepared medium (M1352) forms opalescent solution with white precipitate.

Principle And Interpretation

Streptomycetes i.e. aerobic Actinomycetes usually inhabit soil. In humans, the infections are limited to actinomycotic mycetoma. Streptomyces Agar is used for the cultivation and maintenance of Streptomyces (1).

Malt extract provides acidic environment and nutrients required for metabolism. Yeast extract, dextrose provide essential nutrients for the growth of Actinomycetes. Calcium carbonate is the source of essential cations for growth. Though many carbon sources have been used for the growth of S. kanamycetus, glucose (dextrose) is found to be the most suitable carbon source for the production of an antibiotic from S. kanamyceticus (2).

Quality Control

Appearance Cream to yellow homogeneous free flowing powder

Gelling Firm, comparable with 1.2% Agar gel.

Colour and Clarity of prepared medium Yellow coloured opalescent gel forms in Petri plates

Cultural Response

M1352: Cultural characteristics observed after an incubation at 25-30°C for 5 days.

Storage and Shelf Life

Store below 30°C in tightly closed container and the prepared medium at 2-8°C. Use before expiry date on the label.

Reference

1. Atlas R. M., 1993, Handbook of Microbiological Media, Parks, L.C., (Ed.), CRC Press, Boca Raton.
2. Rodney A., Shukla A. and Majumdar, African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 4 (9), 909-910, 2005.