A simple method for screening porphyrin secretion by colonies of Escherichia coli

George T. Javor, Henry Kim

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Escherichia coli secretes porphyrins when exposed to 20 mM 1-thioglycerol. A method was devised to isolate mutants, which do not excrete porphyrins in the presence of thiols. DEAE-Sephadex beads were incorporated into plates growing colonies of E. coli. The secreted porphyrins on these plates formed a fluorescent halo around each colony, when the plates were viewed under long-wave ultraviolet light. Mutants were found, that formed either halo-less colonies or a colony with excess halo. This method of incorporating immobilized ion exchangers into plates may be useful in isolating non-secretor or super-secretor mutants of a variety of organisms.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)195-197
Number of pages3
JournalFEMS Microbiology Letters
Volume56
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 1 1988

ASJC Scopus Subject Areas

  • Microbiology
  • Molecular Biology
  • Genetics

Keywords

  • Mutant selection
  • Porphyrin metabolism

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