if you are attemtpting to isolate a single colony from a mixed culture from a streak plate, how can you be ...

sure that the colony you chose to isolate is a pure culture?

2008-01-22T07:52:56Z

haha! yes! i am the hitler of bacteria!!

qetzal2008-01-22T16:24:19Z

Favorite Answer

If you really want to be sure, pick the colony and immediately streak it onto a fresh plate. Then take a single, well-isolated and well-formed colony from that plate. Even if the original colony wasn't pure, individual coloniew from the second plate should be. (You can even go through another round if you have to.)

dooberheim2008-01-22T08:13:24Z

Technically, you can't, but if your colonies are well separated enough, it is quite likely that the colony you pick came from one bacterium. To be sure, it is good to grow the culture, and streak it out again to make sure all the colonies look the same, or react as they should on various media.

DK

Anonymous2016-04-07T02:24:25Z

Pick a colony, disperse it in a drop of saline (as you might do preparing a Gram stain), then streak a droplet with the loop.

eightieschic2008-01-22T07:48:30Z

Hitler! I thought you were dead!