Question

N microbiology lab, you make three different culture plates: one general purpose plate, one selective media plate, and one differential media plate. Unfortunately, you forget to label the different plates, so you do not know which is which. To determine the identity of each plate, you inoculate it with two different strains of laboratory bacteria. After inoculation, you see that a particular plate has allowed both organisms to grow, but one has changed color. Which plate do you think this is?

a. It is impossible to distinguish between selective and differential media in this case.
b. general purpose media
c. selective media
d. differential media

Answer 1

The correct answer is option d. "differential media".

Step-by-step explanation:

Differential media is defined as a bacteriological growth strategy that allows to distinguish selected species by using specific ingredients in the media. In the example, after inoculation one plate allowed the growth of two organisms but one with a changed color. This plate description fits with a differential media, allowing to distinguish among different microorganism based on its color. Therefore, it is correct to assume that this plate belongs to the differential media.