Bacterial killing and the dimensions of bacterial death

Bacteria can be dead, alive, or exhibit slowed or suspended life forms, making bacterial death difficult to establish. Here, agar-plating, microscopic-counting, SYTO9/propidium-iodide staining, MTT-conversion, and bioluminescence-imaging were used to determine bacterial death upon exposure to differ...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:NPJ biofilms and microbiomes 2024-09, Vol.10 (1), p.87-8, Article 87
Main Authors: Wu, Renfei, Li, Cong, Li, Jiuyi, Sjollema, Jelmer, Geertsema-Doornbusch, Gésinda I., de Haan-Visser, H. Willy, Dijkstra, Emma S. C., Ren, Yijin, Zhang, Zexin, Liu, Jian, Flemming, Hans C., Busscher, Henk J., van der Mei, Henny C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
631/326/22
631/326/2522
Bacteria
Bacteria - classification
Bacteria - genetics
Bioluminescence
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Death
Life Sciences
Luminescent Measurements - methods
Medical Microbiology
Metabolism
Microbial Ecology
Microbial Genetics and Genomics
Microbial Viability
Microbiology
Principal Component Analysis
Principal components analysis
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Summary:Bacteria can be dead, alive, or exhibit slowed or suspended life forms, making bacterial death difficult to establish. Here, agar-plating, microscopic-counting, SYTO9/propidium-iodide staining, MTT-conversion, and bioluminescence-imaging were used to determine bacterial death upon exposure to different conditions. Rank correlations between pairs of assay outcomes were low, indicating different assays measure different aspects of bacterial death. Principal-component analysis yielded two principal components, named “reproductive-ability” (PC1) and “metabolic-activity” (PC2). Plotting of these principal components in two-dimensional space revealed a dead region, with borders defined by the PC1 and PC2 values. Sensu stricto implies an unpractical reality that all assays determining PC1 and PC2 must be carried out in order to establish bacterial death. Considering this unpracticality, it is suggested that at least one assay determining reproductive activity (PC1) and one assay determining metabolic activity (PC2) should be used to establish bacterial death. Minimally, researchers should specifically describe which dimension of bacterial death is assessed, when addressing bacterial death.
ISSN:2055-5008
2055-5008
DOI:10.1038/s41522-024-00559-9