Is there a cheaper alternative to IPTG?

[John Altman]

In article <tan-0812941554100001 at smac.ethz.ch>, tan at mol.biol.ethz.ch (Song
Tan) wrote:


> 
> Someone in our lab tried unsuccessfully to use lactose instead of IPTG for
> induction a while ago and decided the problem was pH changes as the
> lactose was hydrolyzed by the cells.  IPTG doesn't suffer from this
> problem because it is nonhydrolyzable, of course.  
> 

What sort of media did he use?  Would media with a high buffer 
strength (e.g. TB instead of LB) help?

John

-- 
John Altman
altman at cmgm.stanford.edu