A triazine dye, cibacron blue 3G-A induces Staphylococcus aureus to form giant clusters.

Cibacron blue 3G-A (CB), one of the triazinyl dyes commonly used as a ligand for affinity chromatography, induced staphylococci to form giant clusters without affecting cell viability. It was demonstrated that the cluster formation was not a mechanical aggregation of cells by CB, but a consequence of its biological effect on staphylococcal growth. Clusters induced by CB did not form a regular arrangement, and were different from clusters induced by SDS or polyanethole sulfonate.