Working with Lactobacillus _"Firm-5"

The Lactobacillus "Firm 5" clade are gram positive bacterial symbionts of the honey bee ( Apis mellifera) gut core microbiota that can be cultivated in vitro. Their isolation and characterization were recently carried out by Waldan Kwong in the laboratory of Dr. Nancy Moran and are described in depth here. Genomes for two Firm-5 strains, wkB8 and wkB10 are described here

In vitro culture conditions

Plate Growth

Firm 5 strains wkB8 and wkB10 are generally cultured at 35°C and 5% CO₂. They grow robustly on agar plates after 48 hours on the following media:

• Columbia Agar supplement with Sheep's Blood
• MRS agar

Liquid Media

Firm 5 strains wkB8 and wkB10 can be cultivated in the following liquid media (same general culture conditions as above, without shaking):

• MRS broth

-- Main.SeanLeonard - 23 Feb 2017