best way to transport bacteria at room temperature - (May/05/2010 )

Hi all,

Is it possible to keep bacteria (E.coli INVJaF') at room temperature for around 48-72hrs without them losing their viability/plasmid? What do you recommend to store them in, just in plain LB +Amp or as dried pellet, in Glycerol...?

Thanks,

Minna

If it is a pure culture, grow them overnight on L-agar plates with ampicillin at 37C, then wrap the plates in parafilm and store at 4C -- they'll be viable for several weeks this way.

Thank you for your suggestion, my fridge is actually filled with old plates sealed with parafilm... My question was rather how to transport them at room temperature, instead of how to store them at 4C .
Thanks,

Minna

Sorry...

They'll do fine on a wrapped plate or an agar slant at room temperature for the several days you need.

A stab is the classic way. Fill a screw cap tube with agar, sterilize, and inoculate deep into the agar with your strain. Grow the tube up with the cap loose at 37 overnight, then seal the cap tightly. Stabs at room temperature are stable for at least a week, and for much much longer at refrigerator temperature. Before -80 freezers, this was the way strains were stored and propagated.

Given the political climate, you may want to think carefully about how it is shipped (and avoid at all costs carrying it on planes, for example, even if it is completely harmless).

phage434 on May 5 2010, 02:19 PM said: