Czapek medium, also called Czapek's agar (CZA) or Czapek-Dox medium, is a

growth medium A growth medium or culture medium is a solid, liquid, or semi-solid designed to support the growth of a population of microorganisms or cells via the process of cell proliferation or small plants like the moss ''Physcomitrella patens''. Differen ...

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 to grow '' Aspergillus niger'' and '' Penicillium camemberti''. It works well for many saprophytic fungi and soil bacteria such as species of '' Aspergillus'', '' Candida'', '' Penicillium'', and '' Paecilomyces''. Aspergillus bertholletius - Journal

Friedrich Czapek Czapek medium, also called Czapek's agar (CZA) 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 – Jul ...

's original

recipe A recipe is a set of instructions that describes how to prepare or make something, especially a dish of prepared food. A sub-recipe or subrecipe is a recipe for an ingredient that will be called for in the instructions for the main recipe. His ...

is as follows: *1000 g distilled water *30 g cane sugar – energy source and sole source of carbon *1 g dipotassium phosphate – buffering agent *0.5 g magnesium sulfate – source of cations *0.5 g

potassium chloride Potassium chloride (KCl, or potassium salt) is a metal halide salt composed of potassium and chlorine. It is odorless and has a white or colorless vitreous crystal appearance. The solid dissolves readily in water, and its solutions have a salt ...

– source of essential ions *0.01 g iron sulfate – source of cations Aspergillus fumigatus

Arthur Wayland Dox added 2 g of

sodium nitrate Sodium nitrate is the chemical compound with the formula . This alkali metal nitrate salt is also known as Chile saltpeter (large deposits of which were historically mined in Chile) to distinguish it from ordinary saltpeter, potassium nitrate. T ...

in his version, to provide a sole source of nitrogen that is inorganic. This makes the medium a

selective growth medium A growth medium or culture medium is a solid, liquid, or semi-solid designed to support the growth of a population of microorganisms or cells via the process of cell proliferation or small plants like the moss ''Physcomitrella patens''. Differe ...

as only organisms that can use inorganic nitrogen can grow. Czapek and Dox did not add

agar Agar ( or ), or agar-agar, is a jelly-like substance consisting of polysaccharides obtained from the cell walls of some species of red algae, primarily from ogonori (''Gracilaria'') and "tengusa" (''Gelidiaceae''). As found in nature, agar is ...

but many recipes add 15 g to make a solid medium.

References

External links

Czapek Medium recipeCzapek solution agar recipeCzapek's Agar recipe
Microbiological media Cell culture media {{Microbiology-stub