The home of high impact research in analytical, bioanalytical and detection science.
Subscribers
Non-subscribers
- Purchase article PDF [£27 + taxes]
- Purchase article PDF member offer [£5 + taxes]
Free access
Paper
Analyst, 2009, 134, 1149 - 1153, DOI: 10.1039/b822574e
Phenotypic heterogeneity within microbial populations at the single-cell level investigated by confocal Raman microspectroscopy
Antje Hermelink, Angelika Brauer, Peter Lasch and Dieter Naumann
Single cells in genetically homogeneous microbial cultures exhibit marked phenotypic heterogeneity that is considered to bolster the fitness of the whole population. Heterogeneity on the single-cell level is typically masked in conventional studies of microbial populations, which rely on data averaged across thousands or millions of cells in a sample. Here we introduce confocal Raman microspectroscopy as a method for investigating and illustrating the spatial heterogeneity of microbial cell populations. By the use of three different test organisms as model systems, we show pronounced cellular heterogeneity even in colonies cultivated under laboratory conditions.
RSS feed