Why can the gram stain be used to differentiate bacteria, but not other microbial cells?
2007-02-11 15:51:22 · 4 answers · asked by stargirl2000s 2 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Biology
It's because some bacteria have a special cell wall that can be stained (they are said to be +ve) and some don't. This is a special property of the bacterium and which drugs that bacteria would respond to. This distinction was really important in the past, but is not so much today. Gram +ve bacteria used to be really easy to kill as they had the cell wall that was easily attacked by certain drugs. I would say that this terminology is used for bacterium and not for other microbials is that it is clinically significant for bacterium, but not for other microbials.
2007-02-11 15:59:04 · answer #1 · answered by Jenny M 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
gram stain used to differentiate bacteria because it only stain the bacteria cell membrane.gram stain can be divided into 2 categories which is gram +ve and gram -ve.
gram stain +ve:
gram stain +ve bacteria is the bacteria that resist to the first primary stain,which is methylene blue.this type of bacteria cell wall can retain the first primary colour (blue).
gram stain -ve:
gram stain -ve bacteria is the bacteria that cannot resist the first primary colour but take the second dye,which is counter stain (eosin).this is due to this bacteria that rich in mucopolysaccharide,that made it cannot retain the first primary colour.this mucopolysaccharide is a waxy capsule that do not allow the first dye to stick on the bacteria cell membrane.because of that it has to use the mordant(is the chemical that can fix the dye in and outside of the substance and combining the dye to form an insoluble compound for the first stain) to destroy this waxy capsule.due to that this gram -ve bacteria would have the red in colour because the colour from the eosin.
so the gram stain technique is usefull to differentiate the gram +ve bacteria and the gram-ve bacteria because it only stain the bacteria cell membrane.
so in my opinion the other microbial cells can be differentiate by classifying which type of gram that the bacteria refer to first,whether it is +ve or -ve. then it will make us easier to classified the other type of microbial cells.
2007-02-11 19:20:56 · answer #2 · answered by mamin_87 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
because it has to do with the cell wall that bacteria have.
2007-02-11 15:56:02 · answer #3 · answered by ALM 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
problematic factor. do a search from search engines like google. that can assist!
2014-12-08 20:14:28 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋