Distinguishing Colony Opacity Variants and Measuring Opacity Variation in Acinetobacter baumannii

Methods in Molecular Biology
Sarah E Anderson, Philip N Rather

Abstract

Many strains of Acinetobacter baumannii, including the highly virulent strain AB5075, undergo a high-frequency switch that results in two cell types that are distinguished by their opaque or translucent colony opacities when viewed by oblique lighting. Opaque (VIR-O) and translucent (AV-T) colonies exhibit multiple phenotypic differences, including virulence. Here we describe how to distinguish between VIR-O and AV-T colony variants and how to generate highly pure stocks of each variant. We also describe methods for measuring opacity switching frequencies of cells grown on agar plates and in liquid cultures.

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