In this simplified diagram of gram staining, bacterial cells are first treated with a purple dye called crystal violet. The dye gets into the cells’ peptidoglycan layer (gray), tinting it purple.

Gram negative bacteria have a much thinner peptidoglycan cell wall, but in addition they have an outer membrane containing lipopolysaccharides surrounding the cell and are consequently termed diderms.

A team of researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) has introduced a virtual Gram staining technique that could transform how microbiologists stain and classify bacteria.

Related: Dangerous 'superbugs' are a growing threat, and antibiotics can't stop their rise. What can? Gram's stain experiment pointed toward some sort of difference in the structures of various ...

Our results suggest that the Gram stain–AOLC test is not useful for the diagnosis of catheter-related bloodstream infection in HSCT recipients. The aim of the present prospective study was to ...