What is the name given to the group of substances made from fungi that prevent growth of bacteria?
Fungi make the antibiotics we use as a way to kill their competitors, bacteria! In addition to the Kirby-Bauer disk diffusion method already described, there are other ways to test for antibiotic susceptibility/resistance. The most common method used in clinical microbiology laboratories is a broth-dilution method: different dilutions of antibiotics are created, and then a certain concentration of the bacteria is put into each dilution. The dilutions are incubated 18-24 hours and then the weakest dilution that does not have growth in it is the MIC – “minimum inhibitory concentration” – because it is the concentration at which your suspension of bacteria could not grow, because there was enough antibiotic present to either kill the bacteria or at least keep them from multiplying. Another method is the “E-test” – in which a single strip of paper has a gradient of different antibiotic concentrations. For example, at one end the concentration of antibiotic is 256 ug/mL whereas at the oppos
