Gram-negative

Gram-negative
Gram-negative bacteria lose the crystal violet stain (and take the color of the red counterstain) in Gram's method of staining. This is characteristic of bacteria that have a cell wall composed of a thin layer of a particular substance (called peptidoglycan). The Gram-negative bacteria include most of the bacteria normally found in the gastrointestinal tract that can be responsible for disease as well as gonococci (venereal disease) and meningococci (bacterial meningitis). The organisms responsible for cholera and bubonic plague are Gram-negative. The Danish bacteriologist J.M.C. Gram (1853-1938) devised this method of staining bacteria using a dye called crystal (gentian) violet. Gram's method helps distinguish between different types of bacteria. The gram-staining characteristics of bacteria are denoted as positive or negative, depending upon whether the bacteria take up and retain the crystal violet stain or not.
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Refers to the inability of a bacterium to resist decolorization with alcohol after being treated with Gram crystal violet. However, following decolorization, these bacteria can be readily counterstained with safranin, imparting a pink or red color to the bacterium when viewed by light microscopy. This reaction is usually an indication that the outer structure of the bacterium consists of a cytoplasmic (inner) membrane surrounded by a relatively thin peptidoglycan layer, which in turn, is surrounded by an outer membrane. See Gram stain.

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gram-neg·a·tive 'gram-'neg-ət-iv adj not holding the purple dye when stained by Gram's stain used chiefly of bacteria

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gram-neg·a·tive (gram-negґə-tiv) losing the stain or decolorized by alcohol in the Gram method of staining, a primary characteristic of bacteria having a cell wall composed of a thin layer of peptidoglycan covered by an outer membrane of lipoprotein and lipopolysaccharide. Cf. gram-positive.

Medical dictionary. 2011.

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  • Gram-negative — [gram′neg′ə tiv] adj. [also g ] designating bacteria that do not retain the color stain: see GRAM S METHOD …   English World dictionary

  • Gram-negative — Bacillus cereus, lichtmikroskopisch, Gram Färbung: grampositiv Pseudomonas aeruginosa, lichtmikroskopisch, Gram Fä …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Gram-negative bacteria — Gram negative bacteria. См. грам отрицательные бактерии. (Источник: «Англо русский толковый словарь генетических терминов». Арефьев В.А., Лисовенко Л.А., Москва: Изд во ВНИРО, 1995 г.) …   Молекулярная биология и генетика. Толковый словарь.

  • Gram-négative — Gram négatif Les bactéries à Gram négatif sont mises en évidence par une technique de coloration appelée coloration de Gram. Les bactéries à Gram négatif apparaissent alors roses au microscope. La technique de coloration repose sur les… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Gram-negative — /gram neg euh tiv/, adj. (often l.c.) (of bacteria) not retaining the violet dye when stained by Gram s method. [1905 10; see GRAM S METHOD] * * * …   Universalium

  • Gram-negative — Gram′ neg′ative [[t]græm[/t]] adj. (often l.c.) mcr lab (of bacteria) not retaining the violet dye when stained by Gram s method • Etymology: 1905–10 …   From formal English to slang

  • Gram-negative bacteria — Microscopic image of Gram negative Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria (pink red rods). Gram negative bacteria are bacteria that do not retain crystal violet dye in the Gram staining protocol.[1] In a Gram …   Wikipedia

  • gram-negative bacterium — see gram negative, under G …   Medical dictionary

  • Gram-negative — adjective (of bacteria) being of or relating to a bacterium that does not retain the violet stain used in Gram s method • Similar to: ↑negative, ↑disconfirming • Topics: ↑bacteria, ↑bacterium …   Useful english dictionary

  • gram-negative — adjective Date: 1907 not holding the purple dye when stained by Gram s stain used chiefly of bacteria …   New Collegiate Dictionary

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