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Frequency of dividing cells

Simple bacterial counts with LabMicrobe can be used as an estimation of bacterial growth by the frequency of dividing cells (FDC).

LabMicrobe can find dividing cells. Frequency of dividing cells (FDC) can be used as an indication of bacterial growth rate. In order to calculate absolute growth rates from FDC, we recomend calibration of the method with laboratory growth experiments.

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Dividing cells are marked "1", non-dividing cells are marked "0".

The FDC method was developed by Hagström et al. as an alternative to radioactive tracer methods for estimations of bacterial growth. When the method was developed, dividing cells were counted manually, and good correlation between bacterial growth and FDC was found for natural marine bacteria  (Newell & Christian 1981).

Good correlations between bacterial growth and FDC were found in samples of marine bacteria counted with LabMicrobe (Blackburn et al. 1998).

References:

Blackburn, N., Hagström Å., Wikner J., Hansson R.C., Bjørnsen P.K. (1998) Rapid determination of bacterial abundance, biovolume, morphology, and growth by neural network-based image analysis. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 64(9): 3246-3255

Hagstrom, A., U. Larsson, P. Horstedt, and S. Normark (1979). Frequency of dividing cells, a new approach to the determination of bacterial growth rates in aquatic environments. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 37: 805-812.

Newell SY, Christian RR. (1981) Frequency of Dividing Cells as an Estimator of Bacterial Productivity. Appl Environ Microbiol. 1981 Jul;42(1):23-31.