slant

[Cliff Mintz]

On Thu, 8 Feb 1996, Everett G Robert wrote:

> 	I have been performing some mating experiments and was curious as 
> to why people use slants.  I spoke with a respectable microbiologist in 
> my department and he couldn't think of a good reason.  It seems likely to 
> me that someone went out of the way to invent and produce a slant for a 
> specific purpose.  Do any of you have any ideas?
> 
> thanks, 
> 
> Everett Robert
> 
>  I have never heard of performing matings on slants! Nevertheless, in 
addition to providing a good surface area for the growth of bacteria, 
slants can also be used to confirm biochemical characteristics of certain 
species eg. whether they produce acid from a certain sugar or produce 
hydrogen sulfide as an endproduct of fermentation etc.  In addition, you 
can actually see the amount of growth of a species on a slant and look at 
some of the phenotypic properties of the organism eg pigmentation, 
motility etc.  I think slants were a good invention. However, I do not 
know who first used them or when they came into use.

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       Cliff Mintz, Ph.D			Phone:(908)940-6928
       Transcell Technologies Inc               Fax:(908)821-4470
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