XLD Agar is the complete Xylose Lysine Desoxycholate Agar, a moderately selective medium recommended for isolation and differentiation of enteric pathogens, especially Shigella species

Principles Xylose is incorporated into the medium because it is fermented by practically all enterics except for the shigellae. This property enables the differentiation of Shigella species. Lysine is included to enable the Salmonella group to be differentiated from the nonpathogens. Without lysine, salmonellae rapidly would ferment the xylose and be indistinguishable from nonpathogenic species. After the salmonellae exhaust the supply of xylose, the lysine is attacked via the enzyme lysine decarboxylase, with reversion to an alkaline pH, which mimics the Shigella reaction. To prevent similar reversion by lysine-positive coliforms, lactose and sucrose (saccharose) are added to produce acid in excess. Degradation of xylose, lactose and sucrose generates acid products, which in the presence of the pH indicator phenol red, causes a color change in the medium from red to yellow.

XLD Agar meets United States Pharmacopeia (USP), European Pharmacopoeia (EP) and Japanese Pharmacopoeia (JP)1-3 performance specifications, where applicable.