Why is 37degrees Celcius used to incubate bacteria?

Answer 1

Incubation, a time period used to produce a large bacterial population, is optimised for bacterial growth and replication to produce trillions of bacterial cells in as little time a possible. One of the factors affecting bacterial replication is temperature. Temperature affects metabolism, the chemical reactions occouring in bacteria to harvest nutrients for energy and to prepare the building blocks for cell multiplication. This is because enzymes, protein molecules that catalyse reactions , carry out the reactions and are affected by temperature.

At cool temperatues the rate of all reactions are at a slow rate. At high temperatures enzymes, protein molecules, vibrate so much that the enxyme begins to unfold and 'de-nature'; this slows-and sometimes stops- the chemical reactions in the bacterial cells. For most bacteria their enzymes are optimally active at 37oC, any hotter and the enzymes de-nature; colder temperatures slow activity.

A bit of trivia: many bacteria have optimal growth at 37oC -as said previously- equal to body temperature. This gives the bacteria an evolutionary advantage: they are perfected to grow on/in humans and other warm blodded animals.
However some bacteria, refered to as 'thermophiles', are found naturally growing in hot springs: a habitat with temperatures close to 100oC! They have specially adapted temperature stable enzymes that are reistant to the extreme temperatures; non-thermophilic bacteria could'nt grow in this habitat because they are not adapted. The heat stable enzymes from these bacteria have been isolated, and used in biological washing powder to break down food stains; the heat reistance is required to withstand the high temperatures, roughly 60oC, of most washes.

Answer 2

37 is not used for all bacteria. Whatever the Bactria's optimum growth temp. is, is what it is grown in. Some bacteria grow better at 30, 15, 0, and even freezing. 37 is used most frequently b/c it is body temp, but whatever your experiment calls for is what you grow the bacteria at.

Answer 3

Because it is exactly 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit, the presumed temperature of the human body. (Actually, we now know that healthy individuals may run lower temperatures, and that it can vary significantly over the day. Probably, the average temperature of healthy people is measurably lower than 98.6

boojum

Answer 4

because it's about body temp