Bacterial viability assay kit

Product details

Bacterial viability assay kit - (ab189818) utilizes two highly-specific, ultrasensitive fluorescent reagents to quickly and easily assess the percentage of live and dead cells within a bacterial culture. The total cell stain is permeant to all cells and thus all bacteria within the culture will be stained allowing the total number to be calculated. The dead cell stain is inpermeant to living cells and as such will only be able to enter and stain dead cells; this allows the number of dead cells to be calculated. The ratio of dead to live cells can then be quickly and easily calculated.

Although only validated with E. coli, results should be obtainable with a wide range of both gram positive and gram negative bacterial species including Agrobacterium tumefaciens, Pseudomonas sp and Bacillus sp.

Excitation wavelength (nm): 490/536

Emission wavelength (nm): 525/617

Bacterial viability assay protocol summary:
- harvest cells by spinning at 10,000 g for 10 min and resuspend in buffer
- incubate for 1 hr
- spin at 10,000 g for 10 min, resuspend and repeat
- add total cell stain and dead cell stain
- either incubate for 1 hr and analyze with microplate reader or incubate for 15 min and analyze with fluorescence microscope

The ability to measure the viability of a bacterial culture has importance in many aspects of microbiology. Whether dealing with uncharacterized species or pathogenic strains, the ability to measure the effects of different media or the effect of drug treatment on bacterial survival is highly advantageous in advancing knowledge of these organisms. Kit size: 100 tests including dead cell controls using 1 µL Total Cell Stain and 1 µL Dead Cell stain for 1 mL sample.