Bacteria Gone Wild!

💬 9 comments

1. 

   paul · Dec 31, 2009 6:08pm

   What kind of bacteria are those?
2. 

   theecarey · Dec 31, 2009 6:16pm

   very cool.
   
   As with @paul, I'd like to know more, too.
3. 

   tinypliny · Dec 31, 2009 6:21pm

   They are from contaminated Alien worlds that haunt @himay's lab ducts.
4. 

   himay · Dec 31, 2009 6:41pm

   The bacteria (Escherichia coli) are the boring, flat colonies on the plate.
   
   Those spiky fellows, I have no idea what they are. Can only assume they're some kind of fungus/mold, as the plate (and another one like it which also had one spiky dude) contains chloramphenicol (a rather robust antibiotic). Our lab also works with Pseudomonas aeruginosa (which happens to be chloramphenicol-resistant by nature), but it grows nothing like that.
   
   I'm still trying to find a decent guide to do a taxonomical identification of these guys. Usually our contaminating buddies look more like this:
   [link=http://www.flickr.com/photos/jcbaxter/2370266286/][img=http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3050/2370266286_a8b559c6c7.jpg][/link]
5. 

   himay · Dec 31, 2009 6:45pm

   Argh, that worked horribly. We're just going to do this the old-fashioned way (I hope).
   [link=http://www.flickr.com/photos/jcbaxter/2370266286/][/link]
   
6. 

   himay · Dec 31, 2009 6:46pm

   Ah, and now that I've learned to read the help/FAQ page....
   Flickr pictures! :::link:::
7. 

   himay · Dec 31, 2009 7:22pm

   Might have found an ID on whatever that spiky thing was:
   Lycoperdon echinatum :::link:::
   or possibly also...
   Lycoperdon pulcherrimum :::link:::
   
   We don't have a microscope in the lab to really check 'em up close for confirmation, and I'm not about to try and dissect one of them just to further perpetuate whatever infestation(s) we have going on in our air-handling systems.
8. 

   heidi · Dec 31, 2009 7:28pm

   I like the fungal donut picture.
9. 

   terry · Dec 31, 2009 8:23pm

   how'd you get a puffball in your E.Coli sammich?

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