A unique method for culturing diatoms on agar plates

Abstract

Plate culturing techniques are important in many biological experiments, though plate culturing of diatoms, especially Centrales species, is difficult. In this study, we tested the simple decantation method for dispersing cells on an agar plate with a finely dimpled surface for culturing the Centrales diatom Chaetoceros tenuissimus Meunier. The results showed that C. tenuissimus cells uniformly grew on the surface of a dimpled plate according to the pattern of each pocket, using the decantation method. In contrast, only a fraction of the cells survived and made colonies on a smooth-surfaced agar plate, even using the decantation method. Cell growth was not observed on either dimpled or smooth plates when cells were dispersed by daubing using a spreader. Since this new method is easy and inexpensive and cells grow well on the plate, it might be useful for studies on diatom biology.