Streaking (microbiology)

In microbiology, streaking is a technique used to isolate a pure strain from a single species of microorganism, often bacteria. Samples can then be taken from the resulting colonies and a microbiological culture can be grown on a new plate so that the organism can be identified, studied, or tested.

The modern streak plate method has progressed from the efforts of Robert Koch and other microbiologists to obtain microbiological cultures of bacteria in order to study them. The dilution or isolation by streaking method was first developed by Loeffler and Gaffky in Koch's laboratory, which involves the dilution of bacteria by systematically streaking them over the exterior of the agar in a petri dish to obtain isolated colonies which will then grow into quantity of cells, or isolated colonies. If the agar surface grows microorganisms which are all genetically same, the culture is then considered as a microbiological culture.

Streaking is rapid and ideally a simple process of isolation dilution. The technique is done by diluting a comparatively large concentration of bacteria to a smaller concentration. The decrease of bacteria should show that colonies are sufficiently spread apart to effect the separation of the different types of microbes. Streaking is done using a sterile tool, such as a cotton swab or commonly an inoculation loop. Aseptic techniques are used to maintain microbiological cultures and to prevent contamination of the growth medium.There are many different types of methods used to streak a plate. Picking a technique is a matter of individual preference and can also depend on how large the number of microbes the sample contains.

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