Abbreviated TCBS, Thiosulfate-Citrate-Bile-Sucrose Agar was original developed by Nakanishi but was subsequently modified by Kobayashy et al.
TCBS is frequently used for the selective isolation of Vibrio cholerae and other enteropathogenic like Vibrios parahaemolyticus from suspected specimen.
TCBS agar is both selective and differential culture media. It is highly selective for Vibrio species and differential due to the presence of sucrose and the dyes. The Sucrose fermentation produces acid, which converts the colour of bromothymol blue or thymol blue. The presence of two dyes rather than one make the medium produce an array of yellow, green, or blue so that differentiating among various Vibrio species is possible.
Vibrio species are Gram-negative motile bacteria, possessing a curved-rod shape (comma shape), several species of which can cause food borne infection, usually associated with eating under cooked seafood. They are typically found in salt water and are facultative anaerobes that do not form spores. They are most widely recognized for their role in human intestinal infections causing causing severe diarrhea and dehydration (Cholera).
Suspend 88.1 gm of dehydrated medium in 1 liter of distilled or deionized water.
Slowly bring to boiling, stirring with constant agitation until complete dissolution.
Cool to 50°C and pour into sterile Petri plates.
Incubate a petri dish for 24hour to detect if the preparation is contaminated.
V. harveyi/V. fischeri Greyish-green to bluish-green colonies which show luminescence in dark. Older colonies fail to show bioluminescence.
Proteus sp/Enterococci Partial inhibition. If growth, colonies are small and yellow to translucent.
Thompson FL, Gevers D, Thompson CC, Dawyndt P, Naser S, Hoste B, Munn CB, Swings J (2005). “Phylogeny and Molecular Identification of Vibrios on the Basis of Multilocus Sequence Analysis”. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 71 (9): 5107–5115.
Madigan, Michael; Martinko, John, eds. (2005). Brock Biology of Microorganisms(11th ed.). Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-144329-1.