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SO5 E217- Episode 217: Micro Minutes: Don't Let PEA Fool You
PEA agar is often treated as "the gram-positive plate," but that shortcut can lead to real bench-level mistakes. In this MicroMinutes episode, we break down what phenylethyl alcohol agar actually does, why growth on PEA does not automatically mean an organism is gram-positive, and how selective media can change colony appearance and behavior.
You'll hear about:
- What PEA inhibits — and what it doesn't •
- Why Pseudomonas aeruginosa can grow quite well on PEA
- How colony morphology and hemolysis may differ from blood agar
- Why Lancefield grouping should never be performed directly from PEA PEA is a powerful recovery tool — but only when you understand its limitations. Short, focused, and straight from the bench, this is your Micro minutes.
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Resource details
| Contributed by: | Pathology Portal |
| Authored by: |
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| Licence: | © All rights reserved More information on licences |
| Last updated: | 24 December 2025 |
| First contributed: | 24 December 2025 |
| Audience access level: | General user |
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