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In Vitro Assay for Quantifying Clumping of Staphylococcus aureus

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Staphylococcus aureus

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 2341))

Abstract

Staphylococcus aureus interacts with fibrinogen in plasma to form macroscopic clumps of cells. A simple and rapid slide agglutination test using rabbit plasma has been employed in clinical labs to distinguish S. aureus from most coagulase-negative Staphylococci. The method described here is a quantitative clumping assay in which S. aureus cells are mixed with either plasma or purified fibrinogen, and clumps are allowed to sediment out of solution. Clearing of the overlying solution is monitored over time by measuring the optical density at 600 nm and comparing these values to the initial turbidity. This simple assay can be used to study regulation and expression of various cell wall-anchored adhesins.

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Acknowledgments

H. Crosby was supported by American Heart Association postdoctoral fellowship 15POST25720016. J. M. Kwiecinski was supported by a Swedish Society for Medical Research postdoctoral fellowship and by American Heart Association postdoctoral fellowship 17POST33670580. Research in the lab of A. R. Horswill was supported by a Merit Award (I01 BX002711) from the Department of Veteran Affairs, project 3 of NIH grant AI083211, and NIH public health service grants AI141490 and AI153185.

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Author notes

  1. Heidi A. Crosby

    Present address: New England Biolabs Inc, Ipswich, MA, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Immunology and Microbiology, University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO, USA

    Heidi A. Crosby, Jakub M. Kwiecinski & Alexander R. Horswill

  2. Department of Veterans Affairs, Eastern Colorado Health Care System, Denver, CO, USA

    Alexander R. Horswill

Authors
  1. Heidi A. Crosby
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  2. Jakub M. Kwiecinski
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  3. Alexander R. Horswill
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alexander R. Horswill .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. IFAS, Department of Microbiology and Cell Science, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA

    Kelly C. Rice

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Crosby, H.A., Kwiecinski, J.M., Horswill, A.R. (2021). In Vitro Assay for Quantifying Clumping of Staphylococcus aureus. In: Rice, K.C. (eds) Staphylococcus aureus. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2341. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-1550-8_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-1550-8_5

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  • Publisher Name: Humana, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-0716-1549-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-0716-1550-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Protocols

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