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gram-positive bacteria

File:Gram_Stain_Anthrax.jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

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gram-positive bacteria

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Also known as Gram-positive

bacteria that give a positive result in the Gram stain test, which is traditionally used to quickly classify bacteria into two broad categories according to their cell wall

Research

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Encyclopedic overview

Rod-shaped gram-positive Bacillus anthracis bacteria in a cerebrospinal fluid sample stand out from round white blood cells, which also accept the crystal violet stain. Violet-stained gram-positive cocci and pink-stained gram-negative bacilli

Gram-positive bacteria are bacteria that give a positive result in the Gram stain test, which is traditionally used to quickly classify bacteria into two broad categories according to their type of cell wall. Gram-positive bacteria have a thick layer of peptidoglycan in their cell wall which retains the stain, unlike the thin layer of peptidoglycan in gram-negative bacteria that does not retain the stain.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “gram-positive bacteria” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.

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