BIOLOGICAL MEANING OF THE DIFFERENTIAL STAINABILITY OF E. COLT TO MALACHITEGREEN-FUCHSIN STAINING

Abstract

Malachitegreen-fuchsin staining was demonstrated on Gram-negative bacteria, E. coli, a representative of this bacterial group, and quite similar results were obtained in the differential staining as well as in the correlation between the viability and the differential stainability just as in Mycobacteria. Accordingly, it was assumed that living cells stain green, while pink stained cells were the dead.
Pretreatment with tannic acid, in order to obtain differential staining of the cells, is very interesing in suggesting the differences of the cell wall structures among various bacterial groups.