Czapek medium
Medium for growing fungi in a lab
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Czapek medium, also called Czapek's agar (CZA)[1][2] or Czapek-Dox medium, is a growth medium for propagating fungi and other organisms in a laboratory. It was named after its inventors, Czech botanist Friedrich Johann Franz Czapek (May 16, 1868 – July 31, 1921) and American chemist Arthur Wayland Dox (September 19, 1882 – 1954). It was developed specifically to grow the species Aspergillus niger[3] and Penicillium camemberti.[4] However, It works well for many different types of soil fungi and soil bacteria.[5][6]
Friedrich Czapek's original recipe is as follows:[3]
- 1000 g distilled water
- 30 g sucrose or white cane sugar – energy source and sole source of carbon[5]
- 1 g dipotassium phosphate – buffering agent[5]
- 0.5 g magnesium sulfate – source of trace minerals[5]
- 0.5 g potassium chloride – source of trace minerals[5]
- 0.01 g ferrous sulfate – source of trace minerals[5]
Arthur Wayland Dox added 2 g of sodium nitrate in his version, to provide a sole source of nitrogen that is inorganic.[4] This makes the medium a selective growth medium as only organisms that can use inorganic nitrogen can grow.[6] Many modern recipes add 15 g of agar-agar powder to make a solid medium.[5][6]
