Stock FAQs

why do we use glycerol stock

by Dr. Romaine Grimes MD Published 3 years ago Updated 2 years ago
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However, if you want to store bacteria for a longer time, you will need to establish glycerol stocks. The addition of glycerol stabilizes the frozen bacteria, preventing damage to the cell membranes and keeping the cells alive. A glycerol stock of bacteria can be stored stably at -80°C for many years.

Full Answer

What is the purpose of glycerol suspension?

Glycerol stock is a type of suspension used in laboratory settings to store bacterial cultures for extended periods of time. When liquid bacteria cultures are added to a 50% glycerol solution, the glycerol infuses into the bacterial cells, making them structurally stable and allowing them to be stored safely.

How do you preserve glycerol stock?

Freeze the glycerol stock tube at -80°C. The stock is now stable for years, as long as it is kept at -80°C. Subsequent freeze and thaw cycles reduce shelf life. To recover bacteria from your glycerol stock, open the tube and use a sterile loop, toothpick or pipette tip to scrape some of the frozen bacteria off of the top.

What are the uses of glycerol in food?

A stock of glycerol bacterial broth can be stored with out damaging cell membrane at lower (-70)temp for years. The other uses are in food sweetening,preservation of food,perfumes,inks,antifreeze in automobile etc. glycereol (10–15%)is used as a cryoprotectant.

How do you make glycerol stock for bacterial cultures?

Mixing the Glycerol Solution Prepare a liquid culture of the bacteria you want to store. In order for a glycerol stock to be effective, it must be combined with a liquid bacterial culture. Dilute pure glycerol in distilled water to create a 50% glycerol solution.

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How do you use glycerol stock?

3:415:25Creating Bacterial Glycerol Stocks - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipBacteria off the top do not let the glycerol stock thaw. Place it on dry ice while streaking toMoreBacteria off the top do not let the glycerol stock thaw. Place it on dry ice while streaking to prevent it from completely thawing hence preserving its shelf life.

Why is glycerol used to freeze bacteria?

Glycerol is used as a cryoprotectant as it disrupts the hydrogen bonding between water molecules, hence preventing the formation of ice crystals during freezing. This protects yeast and bacterial cells from ice crystal damage, and maintains their viability for future reculture.

How do you stock bacteria in glycerol?

Bacterial Glycerol StocksPut 0.5ml bacterial culture in a sterile eppendorf tube.Add 0.5ml of sterile 80% (v/v) glycerol soution.Freeze on dry ice or directly into –70oc .Store at –70oC. Cells are best for about 4-6 months, but will probably work ok for a whole year.

How much glycerol does it take to freeze bacteria?

15% glycerolBacteria can be frozen using a solution of 15% glycerol. The process is simple and requires screw cap microfuge tubes and sterile glycerol. The glycerol is diluted to 30% so that it is easy to pipette. Equal amounts of 30% glycerol and culture broth are mixed, dispensed into tubes and then frozen.

What is glycerol broth?

Glycerol stock is a type of suspension used in laboratory settings to store bacterial cultures for extended periods of time. When liquid bacteria cultures are added to a 50% glycerol solution, the glycerol infuses into the bacterial cells, making them structurally stable and allowing them to be stored safely.

What happens if glycerol stock thaws?

To my knowledge, glycerol is not toxic to cells (bacterial or eukaryotic). However, it does inhibit growth. The thing that is indeed toxic to bacteria is the repeated freeze/thaw cycles. A glycerol stock from -80C should never be completely thawed.

Can bacteria grow in glycerol?

At low concentrations (0.1–1%), glycerol had no effect on the growth, adhesion, and cellulolytic activity of the two bacterial species. However, at a concentration of 5%, it greatly inhibited their growth and cellulolytic activity. Glycerol did not affect the adhesion of bacteria to cellulose.

How do you preserve culture in glycerol?

Take the overnight culture and and mix an aliquot with 40% glycerol in sterile water and place in a cryogenic vial. It is important to label the vial with all the relevant information (e.g. strain, vector, date, researcher, etc.). Freeze the glycerol stock and store at -80 °C.

What is stock culture?

[ stŏk ] n. A culture of a microorganism maintained solely to keep it viable for subculture into fresh medium.

Why is glycerol important in bacterial stocks?

However, if you want to store bacteria for a longer time, you will need to establish glycerol stocks. The addition of glycerol stabilizes the frozen bacteria, preventing damage to the cell membranes and keeping the cells alive. A glycerol stock of bacteria can be stored stably at -80°C for many years.

When can you make glycerol stock?

You can prepare the glycerol stock the same time you prepare your plasmid DNA. In the morning, when you retrieve your liquid bacterial culture, take 500 μL of culture to make your glycerol stock before you begin your plasmid mini-prep. Try not to freeze/thaw your glycerol stock too many times.

How do you remove bacteria from glycerol stock?

Take a sterile (autoclaved) pipet tip or something similar to scratch some bacteria-containing ice from the stock and place it on the agar plate, where it will melt immediately.

How long can bacteria survive in glycerol?

For the storage of microorganisms we prefer freezing temperatures around -20 degrees so at this temperature the water content present in the bacteria crystallize and so if that bacteria is not an extremophile it will not be able to survive after few days, for that you have to revive the culture after every 4–5 days. To avoid that we use glycerol solution 20% depending on the type of culture. When the bacterial culture is transferred into the glycerol solution, the water from the bacteria comes out in the solution as glycerol is hypertonic solution. The property of glycerol to remain in liquid

Why is freezing important for bacteria?

Freezing is an important way of storing bacteria for longer period. Glycerol allows the cell to reduce the harmful effects of ice crystals of bacteria, which can harm the bacteria by dehydration and local increase in salt concentration (which cause protein denaturation). Facts to be remembered-.

What is glycerol stock?

Glycerol stock is a type of suspension used in laboratory settings to store bacterial cultures for extended periods of time. When liquid bacteria cultures are added to a 50% glycerol solution, the glycerol infuses into the bacterial cells, making them structurally stable and allowing them to be stored safely.

Why is glycerol diluted?

Diluting the glycerol is necessary to prevent it from damaging the bacterial cells. Some scientists prefer to use a glycerol solution as low as 15-40% in order to avoid compromising the bacterial culture. However, a 50% mixture will provide maximum longevity in storage.

How to make glycerol solution?

Dilute pure glycerol in distilled water to create a 50% glycerol solution. Use a sterile pipette to measure out 10 mL of both liquids and combine them in a single flask. Stir or shake the flask thoroughly until the liquids are evenly mixed. Diluting the glycerol is necessary to prevent it from damaging the bacterial cells.

Can glycerol be used in cold storage?

Using disproportionate amounts of glycerol and liquid culture could affect the hardiness of the bacteria and reduce the amount of time it’s able to survive in cold storage. If you’re using a glycerol solution with a lower concentration, you’ll need to adjust the quantity of the bacterial culture accordingly.

Can you use a snap top tube for glycerol?

You’ll use this same container to infuse the glycerol solution with the liquid bacterial culture and place the sample into cold storage. If possible, use a tube with a screw top rather than one with a snap top. Snap top tubes have been known to come open accidentally during mixing and prolonged storage.

Can you incubate glycerol in a flask?

In order for a glycerol stock to be effective, it must be combined with a liquid bacterial culture. Producing a liquid culture will require you to incubate a bacterial sample overnight in an Erlenmeyer flask filled with lysogeny broth and the correct concentration of antibiotic.

Labeling tubes

It is important to label tubes clearly. It is possible that someone will try to find you strain in 2 decades. Please make it easy. I recommend labeling like below:

EC collection overview

E. coli carrying plasmids / used in cloning are part of our EC collection. Each strain gets an EC number. We store this collection as single vials (not backed up in the basement -70C). If these strains die in a melt down, we should be able to miniprep the plasmid out & re-transform into fresh E. coli. So it’s not worth the effort to back them up.

UCD collection overview

A strain that is added to the laboratory strain database is assigned an UCD number and stored in duplicate boxes (located in the 275 -70C freezer and our basement -70C freezer).

Most recent answer

Same is the problem with my experiments also. But now we use to do fresh transformation each time when we do expression. The copy number of he plasmid vector may be a probable reason why these cells are not behaving the way they should.

Popular Answers (1)

Extract the plasmid from the BL21 that doesn't work and sequence it, there could be a point mutation if the gene product is toxic to the cells in small quantities.

All Answers (12)

Extract the plasmid from the BL21 that doesn't work and sequence it, there could be a point mutation if the gene product is toxic to the cells in small quantities.

Similar questions and discussions

Which is the better procedure to revive a glycerol stock of bacterial culture stored at -80C?

Why is glycerol used in cryoprotectant?

It is a cryoprotectant agent in order to protect the sensitive bacterial cells from ice crystal. With glycerol the formed ice crystals become smaller and the damage to competent cells is decreased. We also add glycerol in preparing competent cells of E.coli DH5alpha.

Why is glycol added to culture media?

Glycerol is added in culture media as a carbon source and its depletion induces the stationary phase in this Mycobacteriun specie. Hi. It is a cryoprotectant agent in order to protect the sensitive bacterial cells from ice crystal.

Why is DMSO added to freezing mixtures?

Again, agents like glycerol, DMSO are added to freezing mixtures, glycerol stock preparation, competent cell preparation because they have higher freezing point (17.8- 19 degree C), which facilitates quick freezing.

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