Chook Me!

I want to grow halotolerant bacteria in a liquid culture, do I need an incubator or a shaker incubator?

I just noticed that one can get a used incubator for around $200, but a shaker incubator is over $1000 used. Big difference! How important is it to have the shaking aspect? Critical? Or just nice to have? Does aerobic vs anaerobic play a role?

Public Comments

1. The shaking is important to keep the cells in suspension, otherwise growth will be slowed. This is because bacterial cells have surface sensors that turn off cell division when they sense walls of a container, etc. Do you want to grow them at home? What for? And if you're doing this in a lab, what kind of lab doesn't have a shaker? It's pretty standard lab equipment.
2. WEll, halotolerant bactera will grow in the presence of high salt concentration. The incubator sets the temperature at which the particular bacteria will grow. A shaker incubator will distribute the nutrients evenly for bettr growth, but if you are doing this non-professionally it won' make enough difference to matter in the sort term. Salt-loving bacteria grow both aerobically and anaerobically, so you should decide which it is you want to grow and establish that environment. Again, if you are doing tis non-professionaly, just go woith aerobic, it is esier and more organisms grow in that environment anyway.