Enrichment
The significance of Beijerinck and Winogradsky
with respect to enrichment methods is that they developed them and were
pioneers in using such techniques. Beijerinck with contributions
from Winogradsky developed enrichment culture techniques for the isolation
of pure cultures in the late 1800s. The basic idea behind enrichment
culture technique is to create a laboratory simulation of the environment
in which the microbe was found. Additionally, you can add or subtract
certain elements from the media to select for certain isolates. Winogradsky
isolated nitrifying bacteria and anaerobic N-fixing bacteria. He
is also famous for the Winogradsky column which is used to study anaerobic
photosynthesis. He also discovered that bacteria capable of autotrophic
growth using inorganic compounds. Beijerinck isolated anaerobic sulfate
reducing bacteria and symbiotic and non-symbiotic aerobic nitrogen fixing
bacteria. He is famous for saying "everything is everywhere, the
environment selects."
Both of these men have particular
relevance to our research because they both studied nitrogen fixing bacteria.