Cragie tube

It is a method of determining bacterial motility.Instruments used specially in Microbiology are as follows: ^[1][2]

Technique

A hollow tube with some culture medium is placed in semi-solid agar inside a bottle. Now a sample of the bacterium to be tested is inoculated into the medium in the hollow tube and the setup is incubated at 37°C overnight.

Observation

On examining the areas where bacterial growth has occurred we find that:-

• the colonies of the non-motile bacteria remain confined within the tube at the site of inoculation
• the motile bacteria swim out from the bottom of the tube and colonize the surrounding medium as well

Confirmation may be obtained by subculture and retesting.

References

1. ^ Textbook of Microbiology by Prof. C P Baveja, ISBN 81-7855-266-3
2. ^ extbook of Microbiology by Ananthanarayan and Panikar, ISBN 81-250-2808-0

See also

• Kauffman-White classification