• Question: why do you stain bacteria specifically violet?

    Asked by Tim 'Mountain' Peake to Jenn on 11 Mar 2016.
    • Photo: Jenn Wadsworth

      Jenn Wadsworth answered on 11 Mar 2016:

      There are many different types of stains your can perform on different kinds of bacteria. Different stains can bind to different parts of the bacteria that you particularly want to look at (for example DNA). The crystal violet stain I used in the picture binds to the DNA and membrane and enables you to get a good look at the bacteria 🙂

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