What are the 4 common characteristics used to describe bacterial colonies?

Key features of these bacterial colonies serve as important criteria for their identification. Colony morphology can sometimes be useful in bacterial identification. Colonies are described on the basis of size, shape, texture, elevation, pigmentation, and effect on growth medium.

What characteristics of bacterial colonies can be used to identify the bacteria?

Observing colony morphology is an important skill used in the microbiology laboratory to identify microorganisms. Colonies need to be well isolated from other colonies to observe the characteristic shape, size, color, surface appearance, and texture. Another important characteristic of a bacterial colony is hemolysis.

What are five characteristics of bacterial colony morphology?

8: Bacterial Colony Morphology

• WHOLE SHAPE OF COLONY.
• SIZE OF COLONY.
• EDGE/MARGIN OF COLONY.
• CHROMOGENESIS.
• OPACITY OF COLONY.
• ELEVATION OF COLONY.
• SURFACE OF COLONY.
• CONSISTENCY or TEXTURE.

What are the main features of bacteria colonies?

Bacterial colonies are frequently shiny and smooth in appearance. Other surface descriptions might be: veined, rough, dull, wrinkled (or shriveled), glistening. 1c. Color – It is important to describe the color or pigment of the colony.

How do you describe bacteria?

Bacteria are single-celled microorganisms with prokaryotic cells, which are single cells that do not have organelles or a true nucleus and are less complex than eukaryotic cells. Bacteria are extremely numerous, and the total biomass of bacteria on Earth is more than all plants and animals combined.

What are colonies of bacteria?

A bacterial colony is what you call a group of bacteria derived from the same mother cell. This means that a single mother cell reproduces to make a group of genetically identical cells, and this group of cells form a mass, which is known as a bacterial colony.

What are the 5 basic categories of colony morphology?

Terms in this set (6)

• 5 basic categories of colony morphology. shape. margin. elevations.
• Shape (3) Can be circular, irregular, or punctiform (tiny)
• Margin (5) (FiLeR) entire (smooth with no irregularities)
• Elevation (5) (PURFC) flat.
• Texture (3) mucoid (use loop) moist- wet.
• Pigment (2) color. density (opaque or clear)

How do you identify bacteria?

Bacteria are identified routinely by morphological and biochemical tests, supplemented as needed by specialized tests such as serotyping and antibiotic inhibition patterns. Newer molecular techniques permit species to be identified by their genetic sequences, sometimes directly from the clinical specimen.

How do colonies of bacteria form?

What is a colony of bacteria called?

What are the characteristics of a bacterial colony?

Bacterial colonies are frequently shiny and smooth in appearance. Other surface descriptions might be: veined, rough, dull, wrinkled (or shriveled), glistening. 1c. Color – It is important to describe the color or pigment of the colony.

What makes a Streptococcus pneumoniae colony smooth?

Streptococcus pneumoniae colonies are smooth in appearance if the bacteria have a protective glycocalyx capsule and the colonies appear rough appearing in strains that do not have capsules. 1 . 2 . 3 You have free access to a large collection of materials used in two college-level introductory microbiology courses ( 8-week & 16-week ).

How to describe the opacity of a bacterial colony?

Opacity of the bacterial colony: Is the colony transparent (clear), opaque (not transparent or clear), translucent (almost clear, but distorted vision–like looking through frosted glass), iridescent (changing colors in reflected light).

What do yeast and bacterial colonies look like?

Most bacterial colonies appear white, cream, or yellow in color, and fairly circular in shape. Yeast, a type of fungi (plural for fungus), is found in many places from nature, to research labs and even everyday kitchens for baking. Yeast colonies generally look similar to bacterial colonies.