Gonococcal Colony Typing

Gonococcal colony typing is part a science and part an art that has been central to studies which have identified crucial virulence antigens and also demonstrated the ability of the bacteria to undergo rapid phase and antigenic variation. Without this fundamental work, modern molecular biological studies of gonococcal pathogenesis would not have been possible. Indeed colony typing is still essential when performing biological experiments with clinical and laboratory isolates and for monitoring their outcome. In this chapter, the methods for performing colony typing and techniques to optimize the process are described.