Summary
Escherichia coli cells form flocs or aggregates by overproducing type 1 pili. When thepil operon is placed under the control of atac orlac promoter-operator sequence, the bacterial cells can be induced to form flocs by adding isopropyl-β-d-thiogalactopyranoside to the culture medium. This phenomenon of genetically induced flocculation can aid in the downstream processing of biological products. This paper describes the construction of two artificially controlled plasmids which cause cell flocculation. Cell aggregates 50 μm in mean diameter were obtained 1 h after the cells were induced.
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Ogden, K.L., Taylor, A.L. Genetic control of flocculation inEscherichia coli . Journal of Industrial Microbiology 7, 279–286 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01577656
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01577656