C.T. AGAR

Description

The Myxobacteria (slime bacteria) are a group of bacteria that predominantly live in the soil. They produce a number of biomedically and industrially useful chemicals, such as antibiotics that are secreted extracellularly. They typically travel in swarms (also known as wolf packs), containing many cells kept together by intercellular molecular signals. This close concentration of cells may be necessary to provide a high concentration of extracellular enzymes used to digest food. C.T. Agar was originally described by Dworkin for accurate viable count of Myxobacteria. A distinctive feature of Myxobacteria is that when cells on the surface of a solid medium are deprived of specific nutrients, they shift from growth to development and begin to migrate, by means of gliding motility, into aggregation centers. C.T. Agar is used to maintain Myxobacteria to study their gliding motility. All Myxobacteria rely to a large extent on peptides and amino acids for nitrogen, carbon and energy.