Answer :
Final answer:
A hemolytic bacterial strain on a Blood Agar Plate can show β-hemolysis with clear areas around colonies, α-hemolysis with a greenish hue, or γ-hemolysis with no change, indicating the complete, partial, or absence of red blood cell lysis, respectively.
Explanation:
A hemolytic bacterial strain on a Blood Agar Plate (BAP) will show a distinct reaction known as hemolysis, where the bacteria produce enzymes that break down the red blood cells, causing their membranes to rupture. In the case of β-hemolysis (beta hemolysis), you would observe a clear area around the bacterial colonies due to the complete lysis of red blood cells.
For instance, Streptococcus pyogenes demonstrates β-hemolysis and would result in clear zones on the BAP. Another type of hemolysis is α-hemolysis (alpha hemolysis), which presents a greenish hue around the colonies caused by the reduction of hemoglobin to methemoglobin, indicating a partial breakdown of red blood cells. This is observed with bacteria like Streptococcus pneumoniae. The third type, γ-hemolysis (gamma hemolysis) or non-hemolysis, shows no change in the agar's color or surrounding red blood cells, illustrating that the bacteria do not lyse red blood cells at all.
