FLOW CYTOMETRY AND CELL SORTING : PROBLEMS AND PROMISES FOR
BIOLOGICAL OCEAN SCIENCE RESEARCH
C.M. YENTSCH, L.CUCCI and D.A.PHINNEY
The Jane MacIsaac Flow Cytometer/Sorter Facility
Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences
McKown Point, ~'i'est Boothbay Harbor, Maine 04575, USA.
INTRODUCTION
Wi th the sole exception of the measurement of phytoplankton
fluorescence, biological oceanographers live within the constraint of
having few methods which provide real time continuous data.
Most
methods are discrete measurements of the "whole" community.
Autoanalyzers, electrodes and Coulter volume particle analyzers
are examples of instruments borrowed from biomedical laboratories for
use in ocean sciences.
We believe that the flow cytometer/sorter
(Horan and Wheeless, 1977; Kruth, 1982; Melamed et al., 1979; Trask
et al., 1982) is another tool which has great potential for ocean
science research. We are just now in the initial phases of protocol
development and focus, with the eventual goal being to have such
instrumentation as an effective real time unit as a shipboard operation. In this manuscript, we discuss both the promises and problems
with this new methodology.
FLOW CYTOMETRY AND SORTING: INDIVIDUALS MAKE THE DIFFERENCE
The flow cytometer/sorter can make simultaneous measurement of
multiple properties of individual cells and particles at a rapid
rate.
Why is this important?
Let us take the analogy of a sports
stadium.
With a quick glance, it is easy to estimate whether the
stadium is full or empty; this information is of limited usefulness.
If we want to subdivide the crowd to know how many are fans of team A
and how many are fans of team B, and if every person displayed team
colors, we could get a relatively good breakdown by eyeballing the
BIOLOGICAL OCEAN SCIENCE RESEARCH
C.M. YENTSCH, L.CUCCI and D.A.PHINNEY
The Jane MacIsaac Flow Cytometer/Sorter Facility
Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences
McKown Point, ~'i'est Boothbay Harbor, Maine 04575, USA.
INTRODUCTION
Wi th the sole exception of the measurement of phytoplankton
fluorescence, biological oceanographers live within the constraint of
having few methods which provide real time continuous data.
Most
methods are discrete measurements of the "whole" community.
Autoanalyzers, electrodes and Coulter volume particle analyzers
are examples of instruments borrowed from biomedical laboratories for
use in ocean sciences.
We believe that the flow cytometer/sorter
(Horan and Wheeless, 1977; Kruth, 1982; Melamed et al., 1979; Trask
et al., 1982) is another tool which has great potential for ocean
science research. We are just now in the initial phases of protocol
development and focus, with the eventual goal being to have such
instrumentation as an effective real time unit as a shipboard operation. In this manuscript, we discuss both the promises and problems
with this new methodology.
FLOW CYTOMETRY AND SORTING: INDIVIDUALS MAKE THE DIFFERENCE
The flow cytometer/sorter can make simultaneous measurement of
multiple properties of individual cells and particles at a rapid
rate.
Why is this important?
Let us take the analogy of a sports
stadium.
With a quick glance, it is easy to estimate whether the
stadium is full or empty; this information is of limited usefulness.
If we want to subdivide the crowd to know how many are fans of team A
and how many are fans of team B, and if every person displayed team
colors, we could get a relatively good breakdown by eyeballing the