Re: Contamination

Subject: Re: Contamination
From: "Schopke, Christian" <cschopke@VALIGEN.NET>
Date: Thu, 8 Feb 2001 16:59:49 -0500
Reply-To: Plant Tissue Culture <PLANT-TC@TC.UMN.EDU>
Sender: Plant Tissue Culture <PLANT-TC@TC.UMN.EDU>

To all affected by pink bacteria:

A while ago I came across the papers of Mark Holland, which I mentioned in a
previous message. His observations indicate that the presence of a type of
pink bacteria (PPMFs) can be related to growth responses by plants. Out of
curiosity I transferred 'sterile' cassava shoots that had been
micropropagated in vitro for years on the medium for PPFMs with methanol. In
a culture of 1 out of about 20 shoots (as far as I remember) derived from
different Magenta boxes the pink bacteria appeared. The plant had had no
symptoms, and no bacterial growth had been visible in the culture medium.
Based on this experience I conclude that under certain circumstances
contamination can appear after years of subculture, even though the cultures
are maintained under 'sterile' conditions. Obviously this is my personal
opinion, because one could argue that there are other pink bacteria that
could be introduced into sterile cultures during transfers.

Christian Schopke

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