Question

How does Sodium Azide stop bacteria from dividing? What precautions should you use when handling Sodium Azide?

Answer 1

In presence of sodium azide, in general mutations takes place which convert the bacteria into a sort of phototrophic state such that they will produce their own histidine ( bacteria require histidine to grow but they themselves cannot produce histidine) and thus are able to grow. moreover , with an increase in the concentration of sodium azide ,the total number of colonies observed experimentally are also more i.e experimental plate with 5 ug of sodium azide thereby shows more colonies rather than the plate with for example 1ug of sodium azide. hence , we will conclude that sodium azide acts as a good bacterial mutagen which will be successfully used to stop bacteria growing