Part C:
Prokaryotic cells: Human Mouth Bacteria

• Below is an image of bacteria taken from someone's mouth.
• The bacteria were 'fixed' to a slide and stained to make them easier to see.
• This image was taken with the oil immersion (100X) lens in place.
• You would have seen an image like this one had you taken bacteria from your own mouth.
• Each one of those tiny spheres and rods is an individual bacterial cell.
•There are many tiny bacterial cells in this field of view.
• No matter how clean you think your mouth is there are bacteria in there!
• Use this image to answer questions in Part C of the Lab Report.

Gram stained bacteria from mouth, gram positive and gram negative bacteria with different morphology can be observed here seen through a compound light microscope under oil immersion lens (100X). The cells are too small to see any cellular detail.