Allelic Exchange.

Methods used to understand the function of a gene/protein are one of the hallmarks of modern molecular genetics. The ability to genetically manipulate bacteria has become a fundamental tool in studying these organisms and while basic cloning has become a routine task in molecular biology laboratories, generating directed mutations can be a daunting task. This chapter describes the method of allelic exchange in Staphylococcus aureus using temperature-sensitive plasmids that have successfully produced a variety of chromosomal mutations, including in-frame deletions, insertion of antibiotic-resistance cassettes, and even single-nucleotide point mutations.