In situ measurements of metabolite fluxes: microinjection of radiotracers into insect guts and other small compartments.
In microbial ecology, it is of great interest to determine metabolic activities under in situ conditions, i.e., without disturbing the structure of the community and the spatial arrangement of individual populations by experimental manipulation. Microinjection of radiotracers and subsequent analysis using the isotope dilution technique has proven to be a powerful method to measure metabolic fluxes in small biological systems, e.g., the intestinal tract of termites. The large variety of commercially available radiolabeled substrates and the identification and quantitation of radiolabeled products by chromatographic methods allow for investigation of the complete metabolic network in a given system.
Brune
Andreas
A
Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, Marburg, Germany.
Pester
Michael
M
D000818:Animals; D002250:Carbon Radioisotopes; D007422:Intestines / Q000382:microbiology*; D020049:Isoptera / Q000378:metabolism*; D007553:Isotope Labeling / Q000379:methods; D008660:Metabolism; D008845:Microinjections / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D011865:Radioisotope Dilution Technique
D002250:Carbon Radioisotopes