IB Biology Lab Report The Concentration of Glucose Content in the Growth of Mould Colonies on Bread Sean Wada

Introduction: Mould is a fungus which obtains its energy from the organic matter it feeds and lives on. Through small pores, they are able to reproduce asexually though mitosis or sexually through meiosis. The most common fungi is Rhizopus Stolonifer, which takes away nutrients from the bread and causes damage to the surface. However, in this experiment, Penicillium is the norm as it appears in a blue-green colour. It is important to note that you should not eat molds as they contain mycotoxins, which can be very harmful, leading to food poisoning. Research Question: Does the amount of glucose content in water affect the growth rate of mould colonies on bread? Hypothesis: I predict that if there is more sugar present in water, the larger the mold colonies there will be on bread. Apparatus: Paper towels Q-tips 6 slices of bread Scale 6 Ziplock bags Distilled water Stirring rod Rubber gloves Saran wrap ( to cover the glucose water solutions) 5 Beakers 500 ml D+ Glucose Method: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Use Q-tips to scrape off mould from breads that contain high amounts of mould Using Q-tips, scrape at least 5 times Spread the mould at 5 different corners of the bread using rubber gloves Equal the amount of mould on each piece of clean bread Place the different slices of bread into 6 individual ziplock bags Make 6 different solutions using six 500 ml beakers; (0mol, 0.3mol, 0.6 mol, 0.9mol, 1.2mol, 1.5mol)

7. 8. 9. 10.

Spray 3 squirts of different glucose water solutions in each of the individual ziplock bags Seal the ziplock bags shut Store all the bags in the same place Wait for results

Controlled Variables:
Controlled Variables Same type of bread Why? Different types of bread might contain different nutrients and could interfere in the growing process of mold

Constant measurement of glucose and water

There will be changes in the concentration if the measurements of water and glucose are not constant

Same time for the different mould colonies Its necessary as data needs to be compared to grow at the same time Gathering mold from the same location Different species of mold could carry out different

All 6 pieces of bread are stored in the same Could be exposed to particles from the outlocation side environment, thus interfering in the growing process of mould

Independent Variable:
The concentration of sugar molarity in water solution

Dependent Variable:
The growth rate of mould colonies Safety Precautions: Use Rubber gloves and a mask when using mould

Data Collection:

Tables Representing the Data Collected from the Six Pieces of Bread Bread No.1 (0mol)
Day 1 (Area +cm) Colony 1 Colony 2 Colony 3 Colony 4 Colony 5 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Average (in cm): 6.02 6.36 6.63 7.00 6.9

2.60 3.20 3.60 4.60 3.30

3.50 3.80 5.30 4.20 5.20

6.90 7.50 8.60 8.40 8.50

9.10 9.20 8.50 8.90 9.50

9.20 10.10 10.80 11.50 9.60

10.60 10.50 9.40 11.20 12.10

Bread No. 2 (0.3mol)

Day 1 (Area +cm) Colony 1 Colony 2 Colony 3 Colony 4 Colony 5 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Average (in cm): 6.02 7.67 6.87 8.7 8.4

3.80 5.20 4.60 6.30 5.10

4.70 5.90 5.60 8.30 7.10

6.10 7.80 7.50 9.80 9.70

7.50 10.30 8.20 11.70 10.30

8.90 11.10 10.80 11.90 12.20

10.90 13.20 11.20 12.70 14.10

Bread No.3 (0.6mol)

Day 1 (Area +cm) Colony 1 Colony 2 Colony 3 Colony 4 Colony 5 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

Average (in cm): 10.85 10.03 13.23 12.5 14.55

5.40 8.10 10.50 8.90 10.20

8.80 9.60 12.80 12.30 14.20

10.80 10.20 14.20 13.40 15.50

12.10 11.90 16.80 15.50 17.80

17.80 13.80 18.00 16.20 20.80

20.80 16.40 20.10 21.00 23.10

Bread No.4 (0.9mol)

Day 1 (Area +cm) Colony 1 Colony 2 Colony 3 Colony 4 Colony 5 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7 Average (in cm): 11.10 9.73 11.66 13.26 14.4

6.70 7.30 8.20 10.20 10.70

9.90 8.90 9.60 12.30 13.20

11.80 10.30 12.00 13.70 15.50

13.90 12.10 15.40 16.70 17.10

16.90 13.50 16.50 18.10 21.10

18.30 15.80 19.70 21.60 22.90

Bread No.5 (1.2mol)

Day 1 (Area +cm) Colony 1 Colony 2 Colony 3 Colony 4 Colony 5 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

Average (in cm): 12.95 12.69 12.86 12.83 13.30

6.90 8.10 8.60 9.90 9.80

11.00 11.70 9.50 11.90 10.20

15.30 13.70 12.90 14.20 12.10

16.20 16.40 17.20 15.50 16.90

19.20 17.80 19.10 18.30 20.80

21.80 20.90 22.50 19.80 23.10

Bread No.6 (1.5mol)

Day 1 (Area +cm) Colony 1 Colony 2 Colony 3 Colony 4 Colony 5 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

Average (in cm): 16.05 20.45 12.05 12.23 11.16

10.70 12.20 7.40 9.20 8.30

14.20 17.80 9.90 10.40 9.80

17.90 22.20 13.00 13.10 12.80

20.30 25.70 15.90 14.20 14.10

23.20 28.90 18.30 17.90 15.50

25.80 36.10 19.60 20.60 17.40

Line Graph Showing the Average Growth Rate of Mould Colonies

Conclusion and Evaluation

From the results above, I concluded that the mould colonies belonging to the piece of bread sprayed with 0.6mol of sugar grew to the largest size. As for my hypothesis, I failed to predict the right result as I thought that the more sugar present in water, the larger the mold colonies there will be on bread. As the 5th colony grew to an area of 14.55 cm, I assumed that 0.6mol was the most effective since the rest of the results were smaller. Furthermore, I found out that if mould on bread is exposed to too much sugar, its growth process will be hindered. Therefore, as long as a standard amount of sugar water is sprayed, the growing process will be normal. As for the errors, there were a few present in the experiment. The clean pieces of bread that we used could have been exposed to the environment right before its packaging. It might have had some unusual elements within it, thus interfering with the final results. Although most of the mould colonies looked perfectly green, we werent too sure if they were all from the same species. Different types of mould have different properties, and some might be more

attractive to sugar while others may not. This problem created uncertainty with our final results. As for improvements, the clean pieces of bread should be double checked next time to see whether they were contaminated from outside particles or not. Also, we could have used a microscope to observe the tiny characteristics of the various mould colonies not visible with the naked eye. That way, it would make it easier to identify which species each mould belonged to, thus making our results more precise.