2 replies to this topic

[Kyngwhatt]

I wanted to thank you all for allowing me to be in this wonderful community. I've been lurking and stealing information form y'all for some time. being a factory worker in a rural area i am not surrounded by like minded people so i'm hoping i can get that from my new family!

 

So I have a question regarding the most efficient way of testing strains and saving them on masters.

I have isolated a single culture from a multi spore agar plate with one transfer. (crazy i know. I would post pics but i'm unsure of how exif data does or doesn't work)

what is the best way of testing and preserving this culture in terms of keeping it very young. (p value of one)

I was thinking take half the culture and putting it to grain and throwing the rest in the refrigerator. or should i take a sample to slant while i have the dish open to avoid contamination?

  

Thanks and please excuse my grammar im working on it.

[FunG]

Pretty sure you want to take a sample to slant if you want to preserve the genetics for later use. I've read about some people reviving 3year old dehydrated slants on agar so the shelf life is there compared to a grain jar that is refrigerated, they have a shorter shelf life compared to slants (because of the filter)

But if you store the slant, make a grain spawn master you could then g2g a jars to 2nd gen and then expand out on them to 3rd gen and by that time you'd have more spawn then what anyone could require.

So yea, you're going about it the right way already.

[PJammer24]

I wanted to thank you all for allowing me to be in this wonderful community. I've been lurking and stealing information form y'all for some time. being a factory worker in a rural area i am not surrounded by like minded people so i'm hoping i can get that from my new family!

 

So I have a question regarding the most efficient way of testing strains and saving them on masters.

I have isolated a single culture from a multi spore agar plate with one transfer. (crazy i know. I would post pics but i'm unsure of how exif data does or doesn't work)

what is the best way of testing and preserving this culture in terms of keeping it very young. (p value of one)

I was thinking take half the culture and putting it to grain and throwing the rest in the refrigerator. or should i take a sample to slant while i have the dish open to avoid contamination?

  

Thanks and please excuse my grammar im working on it.

Slants are your best route for long term storage.

 

In the short term, you can store grain jars in your fridge. I have had grain jars in my fridge for months that are still viable. You can also store liquid cultures in your fridge for months.

 

You can store on plates in the short term but you will have to transfer to new plates more often than if you are using slants

 

Storing plates in your typical fridge is not ideal... Typical refrigerators fluctuate in temperature and the result is condensation and sitting water within your plate. If you are going for longer term storage of cultures on plates and slants, you will want to do one of a couple things. You can either buy yourself a lab fridge that keeps temperatures within a much tighter range, 2-3 degrees from your desired temperature at all times, or you can get a freezer that you regulate temperature with a PID at your desired refrigeration temp... The PID will keep the unit from getting too cold and can be set to be within 2-3 degrees at all times. I would recomend using a top load freezer for something like this but it could probably be done with a refrigerator or a side loaded unit...

 

In the past, I have ruined plates by having them in a regular refrigerator.

 

I think  using the PID as opposed to buying a lab fridge would be a cheaper route for you.