Separating Bacteria by Capsule Amount Using a Discontinuous Density GradientTheresa Feltwell 1, Matthew J. Dorman 1, David A. Goulding 1, Julian Parkhill 1, Francesca L. Short 1,2
1Wellcome Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, 2Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge
We demonstrate the use of discontinuous density gradients to separate bacterial populations based on capsule production. This method is used to compare capsule amount between cultures, isolate mutants with a specific capsule phenotype, or to identify capsule regulators. Described here is the optimization and running of the assay.
