Let’s get started talking about cultures.
Pure culture: a culture that contains or is made up of a single species of microorganism.
Colony: a growth cluster of a single species of microorganism.
Subculturing: taking a sample of a pure culture and making (inoculating) a new culture. This is important so that you can make an ample supply of working cultures.
Cultural characteristics: these are macroscopic (i.e. seen by the naked eye) characteristics observed. Sometimes the word “morphology” is used when describing the form of things. Click here to download forms I made to help notate observations.
Working culture: is basically a “stock” culture, one that you can use or sample from without contaminating the originals. It’s always wise to maintain a few working cultures via subculturing, especially if you have a very lengthy project.
Reference
Cappuccino, J. G., & Welsh, C. (2018). Microbiology: A laboratory manual.
