You Have Made a Smear of a Bacterial Culture and Have

question 64

Multiple Choice

You have made a smear of a bacterial culture and have performed the Gram stain on it.Looking at the organism under the microscope, you notice that the cells do not seem to be the dark blue-purple of a gram-positive reaction, but instead are light purple.Your staining procedure was performed correctly.What is your best explanation as to why the bacteria have stained this way?

• A)The bacteria were taken from an inappropriate medium, and a chemical is interfering with proper staining of the cells.
• B)There is something in the wall of the bacteria that has affected the uptake of the crystal violet into the cell wall, thereby staining it improperly.
• C)The specimen did not undergo heat fixation before staining; therefore, the primary dye does not stick properly to the wall.
• D)These are mutant bacteria which cannot be stained like other bacteria.

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