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Virus à la sauce Yo‐Pro: Microwave enhanced staining for counting viruses by epifluorescence microscopy
Author(s) -
Xenopoulos Marguerite A.,
Bird David F.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
limnology and oceanography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.7
H-Index - 197
eISSN - 1939-5590
pISSN - 0024-3590
DOI - 10.4319/lo.1997.42.7.1648
Subject(s) - cyanine , staining , virus , fluorescence microscope , biology , fluorescence , microwave irradiation , chromatography , chemistry , virology , biochemistry , physics , genetics , catalysis , quantum mechanics
A recently developed method for enumerating aquatic viruses (Yo‐Pro stained) was modified to reduce staining time and allow counting of fixed samples. Marine and freshwater virus samples to be enumerated were stained with the cyanine‐based dye Yo‐Pro‐1 by using microwave irradiation, which reduced incubation time from 48 h to 4 min. The modified method and the original protocol yielded similar viral estimates. Easier sample handling and the addition of fixed‐sample capability should allow epifluorescence counting of viruses to become a routine part of field studies of viral ecology.