Streptothrix Cultivation

The cells of Streptothrix are thin rods with a size of 0.35-0.45x3.2-4.6 microns. Its cells are arranged in chains in indistinguishable 0.5-0.8 microns wide transparent sheaths. Free cells outside the sheath appear only occasionally. Motility and flagella of these bacteria were not seen. Iron and manganese oxides were not present in or on the sheath. In stationary cultures, branching of the mycelium may occasionally occur. The side branches are generally very short compared to the main mycelium. Dormancy period unknown. Gram negative.

Figure 1. Streptothrix. (A L Nikiforov-Nikishin, et al.; 2020)

On barren agar media, colonies are less than 0.5 mm and are highly filamentous; on a medium containing peptone, sucrose, and vitamins, pale pink colonies with slightly filamentous edges can be formed, with a size of 1 -3mm. Rapidly growing cultures in liquid medium turn the medium pink due to the presence of carotenoid pigments.

The chemoheterotrophic mode of Streptothrix is ​​respiratory metabolism and never fermentation. Molecular chlorine is the usual electron acceptor. Glucose, lactose, sucrose, and, to a lesser extent, mannose can be used as carbon and energy sources. Nitrates and ammonium compounds are moderately good nitrogen sources. The bacteria use organic nitrogen mainly glutamate or peptone. In addition, thiamine and vitamin B12 are required for bacterial growth. Streptothrix can hydrolyze starch and gelatin.

Streptothrix is ​​a strictly aerobic bacteria. The growth temperature range is 8-30°C; the optimum growth temperature is 25-27°C. Widely distributed in fresh water and activated sludge. Exist in large quantities in activated sludge filled with residual water from meat processing plants or pig farms. Straight, sheath-coated bacterial chains protruding from the floc prevent sludge settling.

Streptothrix Culture Service

Creative Biogene offers customizable Streptothrix strain culture services. This service can help you obtain Streptothrix cultures for subsequent scientific research. This service allows you to skip the complicated and tedious groping of culture conditions, which helps to speed up research on this strain.

Streptothrix hyaline

Streptothrix hyaline is the most typical Streptothrix type species, and its characteristics are consistent with the description of the above genus.

Why Choose Us?

The culture of Streptothrix requires specific formulations of growth media for use in cloning, plasmid DNA preparation, and protein expression. Creative Biogene offers a selection of bacterial growth media and custom services for your specific application. If you are interested in our microbial anaerobic and aerobic culture platform, please contact us for more details.