Determination of deoxyribonuclease activity, particularly of Staphylococcus aureus and Serratia marcesans.
Jeffries et al. described a procedure for detecting the production of deoxyribonuclease by bacteria and fungi. After 18-24 hours of growth on DNA containing agar medium, the agar surface was flooded with 0.1N HCI. A clear zone around growth of the colonies indicated a positive reaction. A correlation between coagulase production and DNase activity was observed by many workers.