Talk:Gram stain

Attention

The attention tag was added since the article looks to much of a procedure, and not an encyclopedic article. One solution would be to move the procedure to Wikibooks. Or it could be rewritten. -- Egil 09:12, 21 Apr 2005 (UTC)

There is little to say about Gram staining other than its uses and how it's done. Perhaps the procedure should be trimmed. JFW | T@lk 02:15, 5 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I added some clinical uses and Gram's original reference. I don't agree that the procedure should be omitted. JFW | T@lk 02:27, 5 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I'd like to see some more information on what happens to the bacteria at each step. More information on roles the cell wall structures have with gram-staining? Thanks.. -Anonymous, 2 August 2005 (ACST)

I think the procedure how gram staining is done is important enought to be mentioned in Wikipedia. Not in a Howto style; listing the basic steps should be enought. Besides the Picture is good, but a photo showing gram positive an d negative bacteria side by side would be much better. --Thewob 20:51, 4 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]

The procedure should definitely be kept in. It is important to understand how staining and counter-staining work, and the method should explain that Gram+ retain the original stain, while Gram- do not. The article itself is about the Gram Stain, so why would the steps involved in the Gram stain be left out?

As for the merge tag, is anyone going to discuss why they added it? G+ and G- should keep their own articles. There is enough information on each article to warrant their existence. This tag has been present since the 29th October 2005, if nobody replies to this post soon then I will remove the tags. Mushin ^talk 01:46, 6 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

On another note, "a photo showing gram positive an d negative bacteria side by side would be much better. "--Thewob. I agree, and will attempt to find a suitable photo of a mixed sample stain. I will also at some point add information on the use of fluorescence microscopy to reduce G-staining to a one-step procedure. (ref: Brock) Mushin ^talk 01:52, 6 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I must oppose merging Gram-negative into Gram-staining. Gram-negative and Gram-Positive are more than just the results of tests to identify sickness. Based on those tests, the terms have been applied to two subkingdoms of Eubacteria. From a medical point of view, this may be insignificant, but from a biologist's point of view, it is not. It's like merging "Oaks" and "Walnuts" into "Nuts: edible or not?"