Protocols for the Flow Cytometric Analysis of Mycoplasmas

Flow cytometry is a technique whose development has been driven by studies of human, mainly clinically-relevant, cell types. Nonetheless, it has found many applications in the analysis of bacteria (reviewed in Davey and Kell 1996 and Winson and Davey 2000). The small size and correspondingly lower amounts of cellular constituents pushes bacterial cells to the limit of detection of many commercial instruments. However, with on-going developments in the range and brightness of fluorescent stains that are available to the flow cytometrist / microbiologist, experimental possibilities continue to expand.