Dotsie

Hi White Cat The easiest way is to first check for cefpodoxime resistance, then use cefpodoxime/clavulanate disc diffusion (10 + 1ug discs) to check for synergy in all cef resistant isolates. If the cef/clav zone is 5mm or more larger than cef alone, the isolate is ESBL positive. This is the BSAC recommendation as well, which is the best thing to use if you are working in the UK Hope this helps.

Thanks for your replies. What I need to prove is that the E. coli, a known facultative anaerobe, is definitely growing aerobically, ie expressing only aerobic proteins and no anaerobic ones (which would invalidate my work so far). It's quite easy for a flask culture to become anaerobic if its too full or too old, and of course you can't tell by looking. So the test needs to be done on the actual culture itself - subculture to any other medium would only prove what the bacterium is actually capable of, not what it's doing at the present. So, any ideas? Keep 'em coming!

Hi all I've done some work with an aerobic flask culture of E. coli, and so far so good. But my supervisor has asked me to prove that the culture is definitely aerobic before I write up. The volume is 10% of the flask volume, and has been shaking the whole time for a maximum of 24 hours, so it should be fine. But he said there's a simple test I can do, similar to a viologen-type test. And I can't find out what it is! It's proving to be very difficult to do an internet search, so any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Hi all I'm a microbiologist, currently doing a PhD. And I need all the help I can get! Hope to contribute plenty, too. Dotsie