Observing growth and division of large numbers of individual bacteria by image analysis.
We describe a method that enabled us to observe large numbers of individual bacterial cells during a long period of cell growth and proliferation. We designed a flow chamber in which the cells attached to a transparent solid surface. The flow chamber was mounted on a microscope equipped with a digital camera. The shear force of the flow removed the daughter cells, making it possible to monitor the consecutive divisions of a single cell. In this way, kinetic parameters and their distributions, as well as some physiological characteristics of the bacteria, could be analyzed based on more than 1,000 single-cell observations. The method which we developed enabled us to study the history effect on the distribution of the lag times of single cells.
Elfwing
A
A
Center for Surface Biotechnology, University of Uppsala, S-751 23 Uppsala, Sweden.
LeMarc
Y
Y
Baranyi
J
J
Ballagi
A
A
D001431:Bacteriological Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D002455:Cell Division; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000166:cytology* / Q000254:growth & development*; D018869:Heat-Shock Response; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods; D008087:Listeria / Q000166:cytology* / Q000254:growth & development*; D008853:Microscopy / Q000379:methods