Assessment and Interpretation of Bacterial Viability by Using the LIVE/DEAD BacLight Kit in Combination with Flow Cytometry

The commercially available LIVE/DEAD BacLight kit is enjoying increased popularity among researchers in various fields of microbiology. Its use in combination with flow cytometry brought up new questions about how to interpret LIVE/DEAD staining results. Intermediate states, normally difficult to detect with epifluorescence microscopy, are a common phenomenon when the assay is used in flow cytometry and still lack rationale. It is shown here that the application of propidium iodide in combination with a green fluorescent total nucleic acid stain on UVA-irradiated cells of Escherichia coli, Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium, Shigella flexneri, and a community of freshwater bacteria resulted in a clear and…

• VS
  Velux Stiftung
• EA
  Eidgenössische Anstalt für Wasserversorgung Abwasserreinigung und Gewässerschutz