FLOW-CYTOMETRY AND BACTERIAL PATHOGENESIS

Our understanding of microbial adaptations to diverse and threatening environments is limited by the assumption that the behavior of individ ual bacteria can be accurately determined by measuring the behavior of populations. Recent advances in gene expression reporter systems, flu orescence microscopy and flow cytometry allow microbiologists to explo re the complex interactions between bacteria and their environment wit h single cell resolution. The, application of these technologies has b een particularly useful in systems, such as host-pathogen interactions , where genetic analysis is often cumbersome. Recently, flow cytometry is increasingly being applied to study host-pathogen interactions.