Laboratory horror stories: Poison in the agars

Abstract

AbstractThe fission yeastSchizosaccharomyces pombeis a single-celled eukaryote that can be cultured as a haploid or as a diploid. Scientists employ mating, meiosis, and the plating of ascospores and cells to generate strains with novel genotypes and to discover biological processes. Our two laboratories encountered independently sudden-onset, major impediments to such research. Spore suspensions and vegetative cells no longer plated effectively on minimal media. By systematically analyzing multiple different media components from multiple different suppliers, we identified the source of the problem. Specific lots of agar, from different suppliers, were toxic. Interestingly, the inhibitory effect was attenuated on rich media. Consequently, quality control checks that use only rich media can provide false assurances on the quality of the agar. Lastly, we describe likely sources of the toxicity and we provide specific guidance for quality control measures that should be applied by all vendors as preconditions for their sale of agar.Graphical AbstractTake-awaySporadically, batches of agar from different suppliers strongly inhibit the plating efficiency ofS. pombespores and vegetative cells on minimal media.Quality control checks that are not quantitative or that use only rich media can provide false assurances on the quality of the agar.Vendors should conduct rigorous, thorough, organism-specific tests for potential toxicity of each lot of agar as a pre-condition for its sale.