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Escherichia coli exhibiting gram positivity after cetyl pyridinium chloride treatment

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Summary

Treatment with a solution of the detergent cetyl pyridinium chloride develops gram positivity in E. coli as is evident from the increased retention of crystal violet by the bacteria. Since cetyl pyridinium chloride has been found to remove larger quantity of lipid from E. coli than from the normal gram positive bacteria S. aureus, it is reasonable to think that lipid content in a bacteria may have an important role in determining the gram character of it. Gram negative bacteria generally contain more lipid than the gram positive ones.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bose Institute, 9, Calcutta, India

    Priti Sadhan Basu & B. B. Biswas

  2. Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, University of Kalyani, Kalyani, West Bengal, India

    M. K. Pal

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  1. Priti Sadhan Basu
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  2. B. B. Biswas
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  3. M. K. Pal
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Basu, P.S., Biswas, B.B. & Pal, M.K. Escherichia coli exhibiting gram positivity after cetyl pyridinium chloride treatment. Histochemie 10, 261–265 (1967). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00304873

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00304873

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