Help determining media composition (e.coli, staph sp.) - (Apr/21/2008 )
Hey everyone, first time posting here. I'm looking for some help in determining what media i should be using to culture e.coli and staph aureus. I want to maintain large concentrations of organisms (so i want the medium to be rich and non restrictive) I would like, if possible to be able to add a higher concentration of salt to the S.aureus media to make it semi selective.
I was going to use a simple LB type broth however due to problems with supplie (due to mad-cow disease apparently) supplies of Bacto-tryptone (or indeed normal tryptone) are limited and it will take far far to long for the ingredients to arrive. Does anyone have any similar media suggestions that are able to be cheaply mass produced. I was planning on replicating a pre prepared broth from a supplier -
Lab-lemco powder
Peptone
Yeast Extract
Salt
(pH adjusted to 7)
Does anyone have any suggestions, thanks 
I was going to use a simple LB type broth however due to problems with supplie (due to mad-cow disease apparently) supplies of Bacto-tryptone (or indeed normal tryptone) are limited and it will take far far to long for the ingredients to arrive. Does anyone have any similar media suggestions that are able to be cheaply mass produced. I was planning on replicating a pre prepared broth from a supplier -
Lab-lemco powder
Peptone
Yeast Extract
Salt
(pH adjusted to 7)
Does anyone have any suggestions, thanks
If you are looking for a cheap/mass produced media, I would recommend Typtic Soy Agar plates with 5% sheep blood. It's pretty easy to pick out a staph vs E.coli colony on this media. You can purchase pre-poured plates in bulk (100 per box) from BD. Don't order too many at one time as they have a 3 month shelf life at 4C.