You have been assigned an unknown microbe and now you have the task of identifying it.
Review the Report Guidelines on the following pages, the Cultural and Biochemical Characteristics
Chart, and the Evaluation Matrix handouts posted on the Canvas website as you work on this
assignment. Please follow the process and guidelines outlined below.
The Process
(1) Check your ACES/Canvas email for the specimen you were assigned by your instructor.
Using the five characteristics listed on that handout you received via email, and using the Cultural
and Biochemical Characteristics Chart posted in Canvas, deduce which bacterial organism you
have.
(2) Once you believe you think you know which organism you have, contact your instructor via
email, indicate to your instructor which number you were assigned, and make an educated guess
(hypothesis) about which organism you might have (by listing in the email) the specific name of
your bacterium (that is listed on the Characteristics chart). Your instructor will either confirm you
are correct, or reject your hypothesis and you need to try again. **Note: Every time you guess
incorrectly, points will be deducted (see the Evaluation Matrix for the points that will be deducted).
You will only have three tries to guess, with points being deducted each time. If you are still
incorrect after the third guess, your instructor will tell you which organism you have.
(3) Once you have confirmation of your specific organism, you need to go online and find the
following images of your organism (be careful of copyright laws): a) a Gram stain image, b) a
quadrant streak plate image, c) a broth image, and d) a slant image. Be sure to document where
each image was retrieved from (citation necessary). These images need to be included in the
Unknown Paper with proper figure legends denoting what the image is demonstrating. Every figure
legend needs to have a citation of where the image came from. In the figure legends, please use
the correct terminology (from the lab manual) to describe the image. Example: tell what the Gram
stain image is illustrating (color, shape & arrangement); and for the isolated colonies on the
quadrant streak plate, indicate the shape of the colony, the elevation, the margin, the color, the
surface texture, etc. You must also list the features for the slant and the broth in the appropriate
figure legends as well.
(4) You will need to describe all of the details of all of the biochemical tests that are listed on
the Cultural and Biochemical Characteristics Chart (see the following pages for more details).
(5) Be sure to look up your organism in Bergey’s Manual that is posted online on the Canvas
homepage and answer the appropriate questions (see page 2 & 3 of this handout).
(6) Please remember to correctly and scientifically write all organism names throughout
the paper.
(7) Submit the typed report using the appropriate format by the due date and time posted in
Canvas.
The Report:
You are to submit a Word .doc report in Canvas that describes the process that you followed to
identify your unknown microbe. The report should be in the form of a narrative and should include
a synopsis of how you identified your organism. How did you figure out which organism you had?
Process of elimination? It should also describe and explain the procedures, techniques, and the
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biochemical tests completely. Information that is expected in the report includes the
following: the names of all of the biochemical tests that are listed on the Cultural and
Biochemical Characteristics chart (not just the five you were given in the email). For every
single biochemical test, you need to list the different types of media, substrates, enzymes,
the metabolic process being tested for, the end products, pH indicators, reagents, etc.
There will be 13 biochemical tests that you need to describe in detail in the report. You need
to list the results your organism was supposed to show for each biochemical test, and what a
positive result and a negative result of each test looks like. Also, please include the biochemical
tests’ applications, and what the tests indicate about an organism that is positive for the test. You
also need to describe the colonial and microscopic morphology of a broth, a slant, and a
quadrant streak plate, and the Gram stain result. Be sure to include the application of the Gram
stain (not the process of the Gram stain), but why is a Gram stain performed on bacteria. Please
include the figures and figure legends within the narrative of the paper.
Please remember to correctly and scientifically write all organism names throughout the
paper; use Italics or underline each genus and species epithet.
The following must be included in the report:
 A title page (your name, section #, semester and year, and the title of project)
 Page numbers on the bottom, middle of each page.
 Table of Contents – the major sections of the report need to be listed here with the page
number the section begins on (the title page is the second page of the report, but needs to be
the last thing you work on because page numbers of the major sections will constantly be
changing when you add more and more information and material to the paper).
 The body of the report (the narrative) should be double-spaced using Arial font, size 12. The
narrative should begin with the specimen number assigned to you by the instructor.
 Then, the images and descriptions of the colony morphology on the plate, slant, and broth
should be next. Be sure your images have figure legends and image citations.
 Then insert the image of the Gram stain along with its description and application.
 After the Gram stain results, you need to give details of every biochemical test listed on the
Characteristics chart posted on Canvas. You need to give the application of each test, the pH
indicators, the reagents, the metabolic process being tested for, the incubation time, the
incubation temp., the types of media, the end products, enzymes, the positive and negative
results, and the results your organism was supposed to give. If your unknown organism is
variable for a biochemical test, you need to list that in the paper.
 On a separate sheet in the paper, include a summary chart that identifies every test result,
along with the Gram stain results, the colony morphology, and diseases caused by the
organism. (See sample chart on the next page.) The summary chart can have as many
columns and rows as you need to enter all the required information.
 Bergey’s Manual Information – use the Bergey’s Manual link that is posted in Canvas.
1. In addition to your lab work of your unknown, the following information for Bergey’s Manual
of Systematic Bacteriology is required. This reference taxonomically lists all known
bacterial groups by family, genus, and species. An older edition is posted online in Canvas.
2. Look up your organism in the index or use the page number listed on the Characteristics
chart handout.
3. Find the genus/species description in Bergey’s manual and answer the following questions,
using complete sentences. Include the page number in parentheses at the end of each
answer.
a. To what family does your organism belong? (Family names are not underlined.)
b. List any other genera that belong to the same family. (You may also use the back of
your textbook for this question.) Write the genus names properly.
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c. Most scientific names are of Greek or Latin origin. Into what do the genus name and
the species epithet of your organism translate? What do the names of the organism
mean? What is the origin of both the Genus name and the species epithet? This is
also listed in Bergey’s manual.
d. What is the major habitat of your organism?
e. What disease(s), if any, is it known to cause?
f. One way of identifying and classifying bacteria is to determine the guanine and
cytosine percentage (G+C) of its DNA. What is the percentage G+C of your
organism? G+C content is not in the 1957 edition of Bergey’s Manual. This can be
found either in your textbook or on the internet, but remember you must cite
the source you used. Do not list greater than 50% or less than 50%, please give
the actual G+C content.
 A bibliography needs to be included. What resources did you use? Citations should follow
APA formatting guidelines. Access http://pac.alamo.libguides.com/apa to help you with this
task. External resources are required for this activity, not just your textbook, your
laboratory manual, or Bergey’s Manual. You need to reference every image you used not only
at the image in the figure legend in the narrative of the paper, but also in the bibliography.
 If you include an appendix for extra credit (see the Evaluation Matrix for ideas), it needs to
include relevant information that is not already included in the body of the text. The appendix
needs to be the very last thing (even after the bibliography). Be sure you reference any
sources used for the appendix, including all websites the images came from if your appendix
contains images. Images in an appendix also need a figure legend description and citation.
 Be sure that all of the figure legends are in an order throughout the paper. Example: Figure 1
is first, then Figure 2, then Figure 3, and so on….
Sample Summary Chart:
The Sample Summary Chart needs EVERY SINGLE TEST that is listed on the Cultural
and Biochemical Characteristics Chart posted online along with the Cellular Morphology
from the Gram stain and the Colony Morphology from the quadrant streak plate image.