Not infected yet! A day with bacteria

Matt and Josh came up with an exciting experiment to work on which was to test all the stock of bacteria solution available and see which bacteria would degrade corn oil and which ones did not. While I could not get the official [bioremediation] test running today , I had to first take a loop-full of each bacterial solution to a TSA plate (two samples for each bacteria). I then placed all the petri dishes in an incubator and would need to leave it for 24 hours.

[Left: Tubes of different types of bacteria. Right: Different types of bacteria streaked in TSA plates]

Some bacteria included:

• Salmonella 
• E. coli
• Pseudomonas aeruginosa 
• Staphylococcus epidermidis 
• Staphylococcus aureus 

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Final results of E. aerogenes and its effect on corn oil
An end was put to the E aerogenes bioremediation test. After three different trials of the same bacteria, not only was it to confirm that Enterobacter aerogenes was Rid-X, but also to confirm that E. aerogenes degrades oil. This is evident based on the color indicator of the tetrazolium which was if the liquid changed to a pinkish color, then there are signs of the microbes degrading the oil. After of a week of the initial experimentation, the results came out just as expected. Enterobacter indeed helps degrade oil and is likely to be in Rid-X.

[Left: control tube with only 2 mL of tetrazolium and 10 drops of corn oil. No signs of a pink color because there are no microbes that were added. Right: test tube of 2 mL of tetrazolium, 10 drops of corn oil and a large inoculated loop of Enterobacter aerogenes. There are definite signs of color alteration which represents E. aerogenes taking affect and consuming the oil.]

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So what's next?

Next, I will wait a day for the newly added TSA streaked plates to be incubated. After I get some bacteria growth in the plates, I will begin the bioremediation test using the Carolina Bioremediation Kit. I also have to look online to see where I can get more tetrazolium since I am running short of the product. Lastly, I will need to finish my abstract for the Estrella Mountain Community College and I need to find credible resources to support my findings with Bioremediation.