Colloid chemistry pitfall for flow cytometric enumeration of viruses in water.

ABSTRACT: Flow cytomtery (FCM) has become a standard approach to enumerate viruses in water research. However, the nature of the fluorescent signal in flow cytometric analysis of water samples and the mechanism of its formation, have not been addressed for bacteriophages expected in wastewaters. Here we assess the behaviour of fluorescent DNA-staining dyes in aqueous solutions, as well as sensitivity and accuracy of FCM for enumeration of DNA-stained model bacteriophages λ, P1, and T4. We demonstrate that in aqueous systems fluorescent dyes form a self-stabilized (pseudolyophilic) emulsion of auto-fluorescing colloid particles. Sample shaking and addition of surfactants enhance auto-fluorescence due to increased dispersion and, in the presence of surfactants, stabilization of the dye emulsion. Bacte

SUBMITTER: Dlusskaya EA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6549941 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature