The following references are relevant to phytoplankton cell sorting: Rivkin RB, Phinney DA, Yentsch CM (1986) Effects of flow cytometric analysis and cell sorting on photosynthetic carbon uptake by phytoplankton in cultures and from natural populations. Appl Environ Microbiol 52:935-938; Li WKW (1994) Primary productivity of prochlorophytes, cyanobacteria, and eucaryotic ultraphytoplankton: measurements from flow cytometric sorting. Limnol Oceanogr 39:169-175; Sensen CW, Heinmann K, Melkonian M (1993) The production of clonal and axenic cultures of micoralgae using fluorescence activated cell sorting. Eur J Phycol 28:93-97; Lipschultz F (1995) Nitrogen-specific uptake rates of marine phytoplankton isolated from natural populations of particles by flow cytometry. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 123:245-258 In our lab we have been using flow cytometry for almost 10 years to sort phytoplankton either directly from natural communities or from cultures and we obtained viable cells in most cases. Our problem is rather to get pure cultures after sorting because when we sorted from mixtures of algae we often failed to recover pure cultures from only one type. The following recommendations apply. - Sterilize your instrument before sorting - If you deal with marine algae, use 0.2 um filtered sea water as sheath fluid - Rince very thoroughly so that no trace of bleach (if bleach is used for routine cleaning) is left. - If you are using an instrument with a big laser, lower the laser power as much as you can (below 100 mW). Daniel Vaulot ______________________________________ Daniel VAULOT Station Biologique CNRS - INSU - UPMC BP 74 29682 Roscoff Cx FRANCE Ph: 33 2 98 29 23 34 Fax: 33 2 98 29 23 24 e-mail: vaulot@sb-roscoff.fr W3: http://www.sb-roscoff.fr (PhytoPlankton Group)
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