Role of Flow Cytometry in Microbiological Sciences

Flow cytometry is a powerful technique that combines different disciplines of science to provide a tool for studying cell structure. First employed in 1953, flow cytometers have come a long way, from counting cells to studying complex molecular behaviors. The introduction of flow cytometry to microbiology has revolutionized the microbiological sciences by changing how the cells are counted, viability is checked, and the quality of a sample is assured. Flow cytometry in microbiological sciences has also enabled studying individual cells from a population of cells, isolating a cell of interest from a heterogeneous population, identifying new species of microbes, and establishing the phylogenetic relationships between existing and new species. Flow cytometry has also enabled the possible study of “non-culturable” microbes. With the deviations and improvements in flow cytometry, it now finds application in all disciplines of microbiology. This chapter provides a brief overview of the applications of flow cytometry in microbiology.