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What is the mordant used in the gram staining procedure and what is its function?
Gram's iodine stain is applied after the culture is stained with the primary stain. It acts as a mordant, fixing the primary stain to the cell wall while lending no additional colour to the cell (i.e. the mordant itself is not a stain).

The mordant is only able to fix the stain to Gram-positive bacteria because of the characteristic thick, peptidoglycan coat that they possess. Because the mordant is not able to fix the stain to Gram-negative bacteria (who's coat have a different composition), the crystal violet stain will wash away from Gram-negative bacteria when the decolourizing agent is added.

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First answer by ID3732920021. Last edit by Lizzie c. Contributor trust: 3 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 1 [recommend question].

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