Abstract
This chapter discusses the use of flow cytometry within the environmental microbiology laboratory. It focuses on flow cytometric methods for the detection of low numbers of, and even single, specific microorganisms within environmental samples. Flow cytometric analysis performed in environmental microbiology laboratories is often more stringent than that required for the analysis of mammalian cells and can push sensitivities close to limits of operation. This is because the volume, nucleic acid and protein content of bacteria are approximately 1000×less than that in mammalian cells. As detection involves identification of light scatter, specific proteins, or DNA, the signals produced by bacteria are generally several orders of magnitude lower than those from eukaryotic cells. However, recently, flow cytometers have been used to great effect for microbiological diagnosis and even more recently they have been applied in environmental microbiology.
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