Jonathan Khan October 29, 2010

Mrs. Werbitsky Antibiotics Lab

1. Which antibiotic seems to be most effective in inhibiting E. aerogenes? Which antibiotic

seems to be least effective? Justify your choices.

a. Chloramphenicol seems to be most effective at inhibiting the growth of E.

aerogenes. This is based on the observation that the zone of inhibition was the

largest for the chloramphenicol with a radius of 10 mm.

b. Penicillin seems to be the least effective at inhibiting the growth of E. aerogenes.

This is based on the observation that the zone of inhibition for penicillin in this

sample, was only 1mm.

2. Which organism was penicillin most effective against? Least effective against? How can

you explain this difference?

a. The organisms which penicillin were most effective against were E. aerogenes

and S. lutea, with each of these having a zone of inhibition of 1 mm.

b. The organism which penicillin was least effective against was B. cereus. This is

based on the observation of B. cereus having no zone of inhibition for the

penicillin disc.
 c. These results can best be explained by the fact that penicillin was overused when

it was first developed. With this overuse decades ago, many strains of bacteria

have evolved to resist the antibiotic effects of the drug.

3. If the zones of inhibition of two antibiotic discs (A and B) on a Sarcina lutea dish

measure 17 and 18 mm respectively, which antibiotic is more effective against Sarcina

lutea. Why?

a. Disc B is more effective against Sarcina lutea. This is due to the bigger zone of

inhibition located around disc B.

4. Do the antibiotics kill the bacteria or only inhibit the growth? Design a method to

determine whether the antibiotics are bacteriostatic, or bactericidal.

a. In order to determine whether or not the antibiotics are bacteriostatic, or

bactericidal, the zones of inhibition for each must be swabbed, and then streaked

onto another agar plate. If there is growth on the new plate, then the antibiotic is

bacteriostatic, and simply prevented the growth of bacteria in the zones of

inhibition. But on the other hand, if the antibiotic was bactericidal, after streaking

the zones of inhibition and culturing the plates, one would observe not bacterial

growth on the new plate.

5. If the antibiotic concentration is doubled, will the growth zone be twice as large? Explain.

a. If the antibiotic concentration is doubled, the zone of inhibition will increase in

size due to a greater amount of antibiotic being able to diffuse throughout the

disc.

6. A doctor is prescribing medicine for a patient with a systemic E. coli infection. Which

antibiotic might a doctor choose?

a. Based on the fact that E. coli is in the same class of bacteria as Enterobacter

aerogenes, the antibiotic chloramphenicol would be prescribed. Being that these

two species of bacteria, they share many characteristics, being that the antibiotic

chloramphenicol inhibits the growth of one, it should inhibit the growth of the

other as well.