Bacteriocin typing by leakage of ultraviolet light-absorbing material.

A rapid and reproducible method of bacteriocin typing is described based on leakage of ultraviolet light-absorbing material (UVAM), detectable in supernatants of bacteriocin-sensitive cultures, by means of a spectrophotometer. The prerequisites for reproducible results, with nonsignificant fluctuations in standard error of the mean, are: a set of standardized bacteriocins, produced under defined conditions and of determined strength. These must interact with the unknown bacterial culture in suspension and at a given ratio in order to achieve an optimal multiplicity of interaction. Pyocin and colicin typing by the "scrape and streak" technique of Gillies (J. Hyg. 62:1-10, 1963) was compared with the UVAM leakage method in 275 tests; the two tests were found to be in good agreement for the strains tested.