Technique	BILE SOLUBILITY ,(/,)/,(
Principle	Bile solubility is used to distinguish S. pneumoniae from other streptococci, but the test is not specific for S. pneumoniae. S. pneumoniae has an autolytic enzyme which can be demonstrated by allowing a broth culture to age in the incubator; at 24 hours the broth is turbid; after a few days the medium will become clear. Bile salts activate the autolytic enzyme which induces clearing of the culture
Cautions	. Bile salts will not induce clearing of a killed culture or one that is too acid. Therefore saline suspensions of young cultures are used.
Method
Results
Positive control
Negative control
Reagents
Reference