Comparison of two selective media for the detection and enumeration of Lactobacilli in human faeces

• Published in: Journal of microbiological methods 2002-11, Vol.51 (3), p.313-321
• Main Authors: Jackson, M.S, Bird, A.R, McOrist, A.L
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Bacterial Typing Techniques; Bacteriological methods and techniques used in bacteriology; Bacteriology; Biological and medical sciences; Colony Count, Microbial; Culture Media; DNA, Bacterial - analysis; Faeces; Feces - microbiology; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Lactobacilli; Lactobacillus - classification; Lactobacillus - genetics; Lactobacillus - growth & development; Lactobacillus - isolation & purification; Media testing; Microbiology; Middle Aged; PCR; Polymerase Chain Reaction - methods; Polymorphism, Single-Stranded Conformational; Sequence Analysis, DNA
• ISSN: 0167-7012; 1872-8359
• DOI: 10.1016/S0167-7012(02)00102-1

The enumeration of faecal bacteria is an important requirement for many studies of bowel health. One approach is the use of selective culture media for the culture and identification of genera or species from faeces. This study compares the culture of Lactobacilli from dilution series of faecal samples from six healthy human volunteers on two commonly used media, LAMVAB and Rogosa agar. Colonies were counted after a 72-h anaerobic incubation at 37 °C, and colony morphology recorded by a single observer. DNA was isolated from a representative number of colonies and genus-specific PCR, single-stranded conformation polymorphism (SSCP) and DNA sequencing performed. Total colony counts ranged from