You have made a smear of a bacterial culture and have performed the Gram stain on it. Looking at the organism under the microscope, you notice that the cells do not seem to be the dark blue- Purple of a gram-positive reaction, but instead are light purple. Your staining procedure was Performed correctly. What is your best explanation as to why the bacteria have stained this way?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The light purple coloration instead of the dark blue-purple typical of Gram-positive bacteria suggests that there is an anomaly in the bacterial cell wall affecting the uptake of crystal violet. This could be due to the presence of a unique component in the cell wall that alters the staining properties.

You Have Made a Smear of a Bacterial Culture and Have