Introductory Microbiology

Mutant identification

• In a wild type organism very rarely the mutation will occur with very low mutation frequency. So identifying the mutant from the wild type is a key phenomenon. The mutants can be identified from a population either by screening or selection. Screening refers the procedure that permit the sorting of organism by phenotype or genotype selection refers the procedure in which pressure will be given to grow a particular genotype.
• For example, in a mixed population, or particular mutant lost its color (pigmentation), we have to go for screening procedure to identify the mutant. On the other hand, in a mixed population, a particular mutant gain an antibiotic resistance, we can use selection procedure to identify the mutant by growing the mixed population over the medium incorporated with the particular antibiotic which will allow mutant alone to grow on that. This type of mutant identification is a powerful tool to identify the mutant.