Microbe isolation, the microscope part

[p_p]

Hi all,
I've been reading from Sui Generis Brewing site which carries awesome information about yeast wrangling.

I am unsure about one of the steps on microbe isolation. What is the procedure that follows having grown individual colonies, ready to have a look under microscope?

Bryan talks about picking up 1-5 colonies, mix them together and check the bugs are of one type under the microscope. If that is the case, the mix is kept and the process repeated until you've collected enough to claim a good level of biodiversity.

So, how do you actually get the colonies mixed up and under the microscope? He did not describe this because it is probably quite basic/obvious, but this isn't my field.

I imagine you grab full colonies and dissolved in a small amount of sterile water. You then pick up a loop-full to prepare the slide. If to-keep, well, you still have the bugs in the water you diluted them in the first place. Is this the correct way?

Thanks

 

[RPh_Guy]

Just pick one colony and mix it with a little sterile water (or better yet, sterile isotonic saline), like 5mL.

If they look homogenous, it's more likely that you have a pure culture.
Normally the isolation process is repeated at least once to further guarantee that a single strain had been isolated.

Cheers