tumbledry

Indole Test

Indole Test

Lens at 38mm, ISO 400, ƒ/6.3, 1/80s
Snapped Apr 6, 2007 at 4:37pm

2 comments left

Comments

Nils

What chemical reaction do we have cooking in this test tube of fun?

Alexander Micek

“The indole test is a biochemical test performed on bacterial species to determine the ability of the organism to split indole from the amino acid tryptophan. This division is performed by a chain of a number of different intracellular enzymes, a system generally referred to as ‘tryptophanase.’”
- Wikipedia

Funny you ask that, Nils—because I didn’t know the above before your query. We simply use the test to classify organisms and don’t worry too much about the biochemistry behind it.