JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments
Microbiology
0 views • 2:46 min • September 26th, 2025
Begin with a liquid culture of Sporosarcina pasteurii in a nutrient-rich medium.
Take an enrichment stock solution containing urea, calcium chloride, ammonium chloride, and sodium bicarbonate.
Add a portion of the enrichment medium to the bacterial culture tube.
Vortex the tubes to mix the bacterial cells and nutrients uniformly.
Incubate the enriched cultures in a non-shaking incubator.
Sporosarcina pasteurii, a Gram-positive soil bacterium, produces the enzyme urease in the presence of urea.
Urease breaks down urea into ammonium and carbonate ions.
Ammonium chloride and sodium bicarbonate help maintain an alkaline pH that supports mineral precipitation.
Carbonate ions react with calcium ions from calcium chloride to form insoluble calcium carbonate.
This precipitate begins to form around the bacterial cells and crystallizes into calcite, a stable crystal form.
These crystals settle as white deposits at the bottom of the tube, demonstrating microbiologically induced calcite precipitation, or MICP.
Transfer nine milliliters of the prepared liquid culture into several sterilized ten milliliter centrifuge tubes. Prepare 100 milliliters of the external enrichment stock solution by using an analy
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