DNA content in marine picoplankton collected in Alaska and the North Sea

Range 2.5-4.7 fg/cell
Organism Bacterioplankton
Reference Schut F, de Vries EJ, Gottschal JC, Robertson BR, Harder W, Prins RA, Button DK. Isolation of Typical Marine Bacteria by Dilution Culture: Growth, Maintenance, and Characteristics of Isolates under Laboratory Conditions. Appl Environ Microbiol. 1993 Jul59(7):2150-2160. Table - link PubMed ID16348992
Method Flow cytometry was performed on a Ortho Cytofluorograf IIS as described previously (71), except that samples were preserved with 0.5% formaldehyde, stored cold, made permeable by treatment with 0.1% Triton X-100, and stained with DAPI (0.5 ,ug/ml) at 10°C for 1 h before analysis. Data were analyzed as described previously (16) and are plotted in bivariate histograms of apparent DNA per cell versus cell volume.
Comments Marine bacteria in Resurrection Bay near Seward, Alaska, and in the central North Sea off the Dutch coast were cultured in filtered autoclaved seawater following dilution to extinction. The populations present before dilution varied from 0.11x10^9 to 1.07x10^9 cells per liter. The mean cell volume varied between 0.042 and 0.074 µm^3, and the mean apparent DNA content of the cells ranged from 2.5 to 4.7 fg of DNA per cell. All three parameters were determined by high-resolution flow cytometry. Since the extinction dilution method favors the growth of predominant species, the cultures generated from small inocula (<10 cells) can be addressed as cultures of typical marine bacteria. The isolates obtained from these dilutions are indeed similar in size and apparent DNA content to those of the bacteria normally present in seawater.
Entered by Uri M
ID 105118