O'Meara Reagent is supplied by Micromaster. It is available in the form of a colourless liquid. This product should be stored below 30C in a tightly closed container. Once opened, it should be properly stored, after tightly capping the bottle. Store in dry ventilated area protected from extremes of temperature and sources of ignition.

Quantity provided: 100 ml/bottle

The reagent is used in Voges-Proskauer test for detection of acetoin production by bacterial culture. VP test is helpful in identifying members of the family Enterobacteriaceae. Initially all enterics will give a positive MR reaction if tested. However, after further incubation, required by the test procedure (2-5 days), MR - positive organisms continue to produce acids, resulting in a low pH (acidic) that overcomes the phosphate buffering system and maintain an acidic environment in the medium (pH 4.2 or less).MR- negative organisms further metabolize the initial fermentation products by decarboxylation to produce neutral acetyl methylcarbinol (acetoin), which results in decreased acidity in the medium and raises the pH towards neutrality (pH 6.0 or above). In the presence of atmospheric oxygen and alkali, the neutral end products, acetoin and 2, 3butanediol, are oxidized to diacetyl, which react with creatine to produce a red colour.