Open AccessDetection of Sulfur Microparticles in Bacterial Cultures by Flow Cytometry
Author(s) -
Hübschmann T.,
Vogt C.,
Till S.,
Rohwerder T.,
Sand W.,
Harms H.,
Müller S.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
engineering in life sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.547
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1618-2863
pISSN - 1618-0240
DOI - 10.1002/elsc.200720195
Subject(s) - sulfur , flow cytometry , sulfate , bacteria , population , biological system , chemistry , cluster analysis , sulfate reducing bacteria , biology , environmental chemistry , environmental science , microbiology and biotechnology , statistics , mathematics , genetics , organic chemistry , medicine , environmental health
Repeated flow cytometric analyses of population shifts within a bacterial consortium growing under sulfate‐reducing conditions revealed unexpected and quick changes in forward scatter vs. side scatter dot plot patterns within less than 30 minutes of exposure to air. These pattern changes proceeded differently when cells were cultivated either at 30 °C or 12 °C. It was found that prominent sub‐distributions, clustering profoundly in size and number of events with time, represented sulfur particles and not microbial cells. Therefore, any interpretation of flow cytometric analyses of live bacteria grown under sulfate‐reducing conditions requires specific caution since sulfur particles might cause errors in data interpretation. To prevent artefacts, distinct treatments of the sample are recommended.