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 blue.Your staining procedure was performed correctly.What is your best explanation as to why the bacteria have stained this way?

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Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The light blue staining suggests that the bacteria did not retain the crystal violet-iodine complex, which is typical of gram-positive bacteria. There may be something in the cell wall of the bacteria that prevented the uptake of the crystal violet dye, which is the first step in the Gram staining procedure. This could be due to the presence of a substance that interferes with the formation of the crystal violet-iodine complex or to a structural difference in the cell wall.

You Have Made a Smear of a Bacterial Culture and Have