BREEDING BACTERIA.

Shannon News, 8 January 1929, Page 2

BREEDING BACTERIA.

IMPORTANT LABORATORY WORK COLONY ESTABLISHED IN HEART OF LONDON. Breeding bacteria is the, work of a little laboratory m London, where countless millions of germs are born ovemighr. These "cultures," are in great demand among scientists and eheesemakers. .'

The practice of breeding deadly germs for distribution, says Mr Gordon Laws in "Answers." all over the world at :i philling a tc-st-tuhe sounds as if it might land the promoters eventually in the Old Bailey. The genu colony at the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine, however, " which is maintained under the auspices of the Medical Research Council, is working hard for the benefit of humanity. In ;i little laboratory at the top of the building the .Curator, Dr. St. John Brooks, and his assistant, Miss Rhodes, superintend the breeding and maintenance of countless millions of these diminutive creatures, which measure about twenty-five thousandths of au inch across, and naturally can only be viewed through a microscope. The National Collection of Typa Cultures, it is called, was formed as a kind ot exchange, where research workers could send newly discovered types or types they wish maintained, .and from thence sjme 2000 different strains could be despatched for experimental purposes on payment of a small fee. For instance, someone might want to inoculate an animal with tuberculosis for comparison with a germ which bv' possessed. Another might wish %o make tuberculin or vaccine irom the germs. More than half this vast colony in a small room is composed of 'human disease germs, but there are animal and plant germs, and a comparatively small percentage of harmless bacteria used for industrial purposes. A Mass of Test-tubes.

The laboratory is a mass of test: tubes filled with agar, a substance that look<s like gelatine, in which the bacteria, flourish. They arc corked up with different coloured wool, and are all labelled and indexed. What would happen if the cotton-wool were removed and the germs free to infest the laboratory? The answer is—Nothing. They are* -all 'stuck on the surface of the agar. It is ouly when experimenting with the little fellows' in broth which gets splashed about that there is any danger. According to Dr. Brooks, the much-talked-of use of germs in war is a rather over-rated weapon, though it is. practical. The difficulty would be to keep the germs virulent, as they become more or less harmless after being kept in agar for long. Their virulence has to be .restored by inoculating mice. The mice die, and the "germs are regained from their blood. > There, is little difficulty about breeding germs. One germ will produce millions of its kind in a single night. They simply fall in two, and increase in geometrical progression—and two to four, four to sixteen, sixteen to 2J6, and so on. They are the most convenient of pets, for they do not even require feeding. Then they apparently lie still and sleep. Most of them must be bred at blood heat,-,but they afterwards exist >at ordinary room temperalure.

Use in the Making of Food. The bacteria which are sent to the colony for keeping and breeding arrive in an isolated condition, and are obtained originally. in various ways. For instance, a diphtheria germ, would be obtained by passing a small swab down an infected throat. Then a tube of solidified blood seium would be inoculated overnight! The growth from this would be smeared on a slide and stained. The bacteria could'then be distinguished and examined through a microscope. . s The collection started with a number_ of originally-discovered bacilli, and the curator still prefers strains which have, been worked out by ex* perts. There are different types of bacilli for certain diseases. For instance, flhis collection; -blasts: thirty separate strains of typhoid germs. Not; the least interesting are those used for industrial purposes, and quite a brisk trade is done in despatching bacilli to various firms for the manufacture of food and other products.

How can a bacilllls assist in the making of food? it may be asked. They cause a disintegrating process, and, in a sense, break down the material to be used in the manufacture of the article.; , One consumes millions of bacteria every time he eats certain cheeses. They are . quite harmless, even nourishing.:' And there are different .strain*: for each type* of cheese.

. There are the Camemberti and the Roqueforti Fungi, for instance. It is no use flying to Stilton or Gorgonzola, for they are both lull of bacteria, too. Germs arc specially beneficial in lactic acid cheeses. Yeast for Beer and Wine. The pure culture of yeast in the making of beer and wine is most importtant, and whereas these micro-organ-isms were formerly used without any real knowledge, hundreds of firms now employ their own bacteriologists, who, through the experiments which have been made in this science recently, cau gauge the exact results to be derived from the use of bacteria.

Manufacturing power alcohol, such as ethyl, by means of bacteria in place of chemical methods, is more' or less in its infancy, but promises well. Ther'mophylic bacteria are used for this ■purpose; that is, germs which .grow at high temperature. The -cellulose ' used in the process is inoculated witli the bacteria, which,, as in the case'of 1 food , products, have a destructive effect on the tissues of the material The germ-breeder is one of those silent workers who seldom come into the limelight. But the importance of bis work caaiiot bo ovw««timate4.