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Semiquantitative Analysis of the Red, Dry, and Rough Colony Morphology of Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium and Escherichia coli Using Congo Red

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c-di-GMP Signaling

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 1657))

Abstract

The Congo Red (CR) assay is a standard biofilm test assessing the colony morphology of bacteria growing on agar plates supplemented with the diazo dye Congo Red. Biofilm forming Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium and Escherichia coli produce a red, dry, and rough (rdar) morphotype on CR-plates. The phenotype is characterized by staining of the extracellular matrix components curli (brown color) and cellulose (pink color) by CR. This method allows semiquantitative determination of the expression level of the individual matrix components and dissection of the regulatory networks controlling their production in response to c-di-GMP levels. Here, we describe the CR-assay and its variations and discuss the effect of deletion or overexpression of c-di-GMP turnover proteins on colony morphology.

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Acknowledgment

A.C. receives funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG; CI 239/1-1, CI 239/2-1). The authors are grateful to Ute Römling for scientific discussions and critical reading of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

    Annika Cimdins

  2. Institute of Hygiene, University of Münster, Mendelstrasse 7, 48149, Münster, Germany

    Annika Cimdins

  3. Norwegian Veterinary Institute, Oslo, Norway

    Roger Simm

  4. Department of Oral Biology, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    Roger Simm

Authors
  1. Annika Cimdins
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  2. Roger Simm
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Correspondence to Annika Cimdins .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, Binghamton University Department of Biological Sciences, Binghamton, New York, USA

    Karin Sauer

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Cimdins, A., Simm, R. (2017). Semiquantitative Analysis of the Red, Dry, and Rough Colony Morphology of Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium and Escherichia coli Using Congo Red. In: Sauer, K. (eds) c-di-GMP Signaling. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1657. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-7240-1_18

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-7240-1_18

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  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-7239-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-7240-1

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