Prototheca Agar

Description

This whitish translucent agar is prepared from a purified agar base with the addition of selective agents that inhibit bacterial growth and cultivate Prototheca.  This colorless algae forms small dull white opaque colonies on this agar and are readily observed after 48 hours of incubation.  The agar is highly selective and is formulated to inhibit a wide variety of bacterial organisms, and is advantageous in samples likely to contain mixed populations of microorganisms.  Side by side studies comparing this agar against standard washed cow blood agar with composite cow milk samples, bulk tank samples and pooled string samples have shown substantially increased Prototheca detection.  All suspect colonies that grow on this media should be confirmed microscopically at 200-400X. This confirmation can be easily done with a wet mount or with the use of a stain such as Methylene blue or Gram stain.

Refer to table on back for expected culture responses.