Q. Consider the following:

1. Bacteria
2. Fungi
3. Virus

Which of the above can be cultured in an artificial/ synthetic medium?

• 1 and 2 only
• 2 and 3 only
• 1 and 3 only
• 1,2 and 3

Answer: (a) 1 and 2 only

Notes

• Bacteria and Fungi can be cultured in an artificial/ synthetic medium. Whereas viruses require a living host cell for replication.
  • Infected host cells (eukaryotic or prokaryotic) can be cultured and grown, and then the growth medium can be harvested as a source of the virus.
  • Viruses lack metabolic machinery of their own and are totally dependent on their host cell for replication, they cannot be grown in synthetic culture media. 
• Bacteria can be grown in synthetic culture media. Researchers a had rewritten the DNA of the bacteria Escherichia coli, fashioning a synthetic genome four times larger and far more complex than any previously created.  
• Fungi can be grown in synthetic culture media. Four allergologically important fungi, viz. Aspergillus fumigatus, Alternaria Penicillium notatum, and Cladosporium herbarum, were cultured in a pure synthetic medium.