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A Photographic Method for the Detection of Rare Bacterial Mutants in the Replica Plating Technique

Abstract

THE replica plating technique, devised by J. and E. M. Lederberg1, has found wide application to the isolation of bacterial mutants that cannot be automatically selected, for example, of mutants which lack the ability to synthesize a given growth factor or to ferment a given sugar, and of revertants from drug resistance to sensitivity. A great number of colonies should be replicated, if the mutation frequency is low. When several hundreds of colonies per plate are used, however, it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to compare the replicas visually. This communication describes a photographic method which permits the evaluation of plates containing many more colonies than would be feasible by visual comparison.

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References

  1. Lederberg, J., and Lederberg, E. M., J. Bact., 63, 399 (1952).

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  2. Van de Pol, J. H., Vendrig, C. M. A., and Van Arkel, G. A. (to be published).

  3. Unpublished results; cf. Strijkert, P. J., Van de Pol, J. H., and Van Arkel, G. A. (to be published).

  4. Zahler, S. A., J. Bact., 75, 310 (1958).

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VAN DE POL, J., VENDRIG, C. & VAN ARKEL, G. A Photographic Method for the Detection of Rare Bacterial Mutants in the Replica Plating Technique. Nature 199, 198–199 (1963). https://doi.org/10.1038/199198a0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/199198a0

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