Identification of an Unknown Enterobacteriaceae. The purpose of the experimental determination of an unknown was to demonstrate the utility of many tests that indicate the metabolic behavior of the unknown.

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Identification of an Unknown Enterobacteriaceae

Introduction

This lab experiments serves as an application of all the lessons that were taught and to test if the student understood and remembered the various tests that were mentioned in the laboratory and lecture classes in bacteriology. The purpose of the experimental determination of an unknown was to demonstrate the utility of many tests that indicate the metabolic behavior of the unknown. In this experiment, my unknown #14 was determined to be Proteus vulgaris.

Proteus vulgaris is one of the most commonly isolated members of Proteus species. The genus Proteus is a member of a large gram negative bacilli family, Enterobacteriaceae. Proteus organisms are known to be one of those to cause serious infections in humans, along with Escherichia, Klebsiella, Enterobacter, and Serratia species. (Nester et al. 2008)

The bacterium is a gram-negative rod with flagella. As a gram-negative rod, it has an extracytoplasmic outer membrane. It creates an endotoxin, which can cause a deadly systemic inflammatory response in 20 to 50 percent of its victims. It has been shown that its optimal growth temperature was at 37 C. P. vulgaris is a chemoheterotroph, which means it