What is the general procedure of streak plate methods?
Posted January 9, 2024
Answer
The general procedure of the streak plate method is described in the steps below.
- Sterilize the inoculating loop by placing it in the bunsen burner flame until it turns red hot. Allow it to cool down.
- Using the cooled loop, choose an isolated colony from the agar plate culture and spread it over one-fourth of the plate by making parallel streaks.
- Sterilize the loop again in the flame
- Rotate the plate 90°, and lightly pass the loop through the previously inoculated area 1-2 times. Then streak into the next quadrant without overlapping the previous streaks.
- Sterilize the loop in the flame once more.
- Rotate the plate again by 90° and lightly pass the loop through the previously inoculated area 1-2 times. Then streak into the next quadrant without overlapping the previous streaks.
- Sterilize the loop again.
- Repeat the previous step, streaking the remaining portion of the plate
- Invert the plate and place it in an incubator set at 37°C for 24 hours.
Additional resources