JPH0724576B2 - Gravity culture device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Outline] An apparatus for observing the growth of microorganisms planted in an agar medium in a weighted state is made of a transparent resin that can be set with a plurality of test tubes provided with an agar medium and has an umbrella shape. Equipped with a rotor, a strobe that flashes in synchronization with the rotation of this rotor, and a camera.Inoculate microorganisms into the agar medium of a test tube, set it on the rotor, and then place it in a thermostatic chamber and observe while rotating the rotor. Device to do.

[Industrial application field]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a gravitational culturing apparatus, and more particularly to the structure of a culturing apparatus capable of observing microbial growth in a gravitational state.

[Conventional technology]

Research is being conducted to further utilize the excellent functions of microorganisms by utilizing the weightless environment of space.

Here, microorganisms refer to unicellular organisms such as Escherichia coli and yeast, and excellent functions refer to fertility and production capacity of useful products.

As described above, research on growth in weightlessness is actively conducted, but growth and response of organisms in weighted state are also an interesting problem.

However, comparative data on culture of organisms under gravity and 1G on the ground have not been reported.

[Problems to be solved by the invention]

The reason why there is no data on the culture of microorganisms in a gravity-weighted state is that they do not have the same attention as in weightlessness, but they do not have a gravity-driven culture device.

Therefore, the inventors have realized the following conditions as necessary conditions for designing the culture device.

 It should be possible to provide a gravitational field of about 1G to 30G.

The medium in which the microorganisms grow does not undergo extreme deformation even under gravity.

 It should be possible to control the temperature of the weighted state.

Being able to observe the growth state of microorganisms in a gravity state.

[Means for solving problems]

The above problem is made of transparent resin with excellent light transmission and strong strength, and after setting a plurality of test tubes with an agar medium on an umbrella-shaped rotor, inoculate microorganisms on this agar medium and incubate It is a solution for the use of a gravity culture device in which the rotor is rotated at a constant speed, and the growth of microorganisms is observed using an observation camera provided outside the rotor and a strobe that flashes in synchronization with the rotation of the rotor. can do.

[Action]

The present invention realizes gravity by utilizing the principle of a centrifuge.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the principle of a gravity-forced culture apparatus according to the present invention. A rotor 1 is made of a transparent and high-strength resin such as acrylic resin. It is fixed and configured to be rotatable at high speed by the motor 3.

Here, a plurality of test tubes 4 can be mounted inside the rotor, and an agar medium 5 is placed in the test tubes 4 to inoculate microorganisms on the agar medium 5.

Further, a strobe 6 and a camera 7 are provided on the outside of the rotor 1 for observing the growth of microorganisms, and the focus of the camera 7 is adjusted to the microorganisms implanted on the agar medium 5 and the target test tube 4 is rotated. The growth of microorganisms is observed by periodically repeating the photographing in synchronization with.

In addition, in order to observe the growth at a constant temperature, it is necessary to put the above-mentioned apparatus set in a constant temperature bath.

Here, it is necessary to realize 1G to 30G as the force of gravity, which depends on the rotation speed of the rotor 1 and the distance from the rotation shaft 2 to the microorganism in the test tube 4.

For that purpose, it is necessary to change the rotor 1 according to the required weight force.

That is, assuming that the gravity is g (m / s ² ) and the distance from the rotation axis to the microorganism is r (m) and the angular velocity of the rotation axis is ω (radian / s), the synthetic gravity G is G = (g ² + rω ² ) ^{1 / 2} … (1) is given.

Therefore, it is necessary to adjust r and ω to obtain the required G.

Next, in order to prevent the medium for growing the microorganisms from being extremely deformed even in the state of gravity, it is necessary to set the concentration of the agar medium to 2% or more, which is higher than the concentration of the ordinary plate medium.

A CCD (Charge Coupled Device) camera or the like may be used as an observation system for flashing and photographing in synchronization with the rotation of the rotor.

〔Example〕

Bacillus subtilis strain JB1-49 was used as a microorganism for observation, and an LB medium having a concentration of 5% agar was used as an agar medium.

First, this medium was prepared in a test tube having a diameter of 1 cm, and 0.1 ml of Bacillus subtilis JB1-49 strain bacterial solution was spread on the medium.

Here, the concentration of Bacillus subtilis JB1-49 strain solution is about 30 per 1 ml.

This was fixed to the rotor of a gravity-forced culture device installed in a constant temperature bath set at 37 ° C.

Next, the angle of the used rotor with the rotation axis was 60 °, and the distance r between the center of the medium and the rotation axis was 0.5 m.

And the gravity value of 2G was obtained by rotating the rotor at the speed of ω = 5.8 rad / s.

When cultured for 30 hours under these conditions, Bacillus subtilis JB1-4
It was possible to observe that three colonies of 9 strains were growing with a CCD camera provided outside the rotor.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the colony 8 thus grown on the agar medium 5 of the test tube 4.

〔The invention's effect〕

By using the gravity culturing apparatus according to the present invention, by changing the rotor and its rotation speed, 1 to 30 G
I was able to obtain the synthetic gravity of.

By using an agar medium as the medium and making the agar concentration higher than 2%, which is higher than that of the plate medium, the medium could withstand gravity of about 30 G with a slight deformation.

Temperature control could be realized by installing the entire device in a constant temperature bath.

It was possible to observe the state of the culture medium by using a rotor having excellent light transmittance and high strength.

[Brief description of drawings]

 FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the principle of a gravity-forced culture device, and FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a colony in an agar medium. In the figure, 1 is a rotor, 2 is a rotating shaft, 3 is a motor, 4 is a test tube, 5 is an agar medium, 7 is a camera, and 8 is a colony.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An umbrella-shaped rotor (1) made of a transparent resin having high light transmittance and high strength, and an agar medium (5) attached to the rotor (1).
After setting a plurality of test tubes (4) provided with the above, the agar medium (5) is inoculated with microorganisms and placed in a thermostatic chamber, and the rotor (1) is rotated at a constant speed to rotate the rotor (1). ), And a strobe (6) flashing in synchronization with the rotation of the rotor (1) to observe the growth of the microorganisms.