Abstract

Application of polyacrylamide gel (PAG) instead of agar to solid cultures of Streptomyces spp. was studied. The improved media were prepared by 1) gelling 20 ml of 5% acrylamide in a glass petri dish at room temperature, 2) washing by running water for more than 8 hr to remove residual reaction reagents, 3) drying at 50℃ for 12 hr to make a gel film, 4) autoclaving at 121℃ for 15 min, and 5) swelling gel for about 4 hr by adding sterile liquid medium. In PAG media there were no differences from the observation of morphological characteristics showing during the cellular differentiation on agar media, whereas the ability to utilize carbohydrates differed somewhat from agar media. Agar media thus were little favorable for biochemical tests which the growth was determined depending on the formation of colony, but washed PAG was superior to serve as a solidifying agent.

• Keywords: Streptomyces;culture;polyacrylamide gel