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Dead or Alive: Molecular Assessment of Microbial Viability
- Publication Year :
- 2014
- Publisher :
- American Society for Microbiology, 2014.
-
Abstract
- Nucleic acid-based analytical methods, ranging from species-targeted PCRs to metagenomics, have greatly expanded our understanding of microbiological diversity in natural samples. However, these methods provide only limited information on the activities and physiological states of microorganisms in samples. Even the most fundamental physiological state, viability, cannot be assessed cross-sectionally by standard DNA-targeted methods such as PCR. New PCR-based strategies, collectively called molecular viability analyses, have been developed that differentiate nucleic acids associated with viable cells from those associated with inactivated cells. In order to maximize the utility of these methods and to correctly interpret results, it is necessary to consider the physiological diversity of life and death in the microbial world. This article reviews molecular viability analysis in that context and discusses future opportunities for these strategies in genetic, metagenomic, and single-cell microbiology.
- Subjects :
- DNA, Bacterial
Cell membrane permeability
Microbial Viability
Cell Membrane Permeability
Ecology
Bacteria
Microorganism
Microbial metabolism
Context (language use)
Computational biology
Biology
Bioinformatics
Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology
Polymerase Chain Reaction
Bacterial genetics
RNA, Bacterial
Metagenomics
Nucleic acid
RNA Precursors
Minireview
Food Science
Biotechnology
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....12ffb5d727e9e9b7b76827c54b3d28d2