Survival strategies of bacteria in the natural environment.

Use of fluorochromes for direct enumeration of total bacteria in environmental samples: past and present.

Bioavailability of Energy and the Starvation State (R.Y. Morita). Bacterial Growth and Starvation in Aquatic Environments (D.J.W. Moriarty, R.T. Bell). Bacterial Responses to Soil Stimuli (J.D. Van Elsas, L.S. van Overbeek). Dynamics of Microbial Growth in the Decelerating and Stationary Phases of Batch Culture (C.A. Mason, T. Egli). Starvation and Recovery of Vibrio (J. Ostling et al.). Global Systems Approach to the Physiology of the Starved Cell (T. Nystrom). Approaches to the Study of Survival and Death in Stationary Phase Escherichia coli (D.A. Siegele et al.). The Role of rpoS in Early Stationary Phase Gene Regulation in Escherichia coli K12 (R. HenggeAronis). Gene Expression and Survival during Nutrient Starvation in Salmonella typhimurium (M.P. Spector, J.W. Foster). The Impact of Nutrial State on the Microevolution of Ribosomes (C.G. Kurland, R. Mikkola). Formation of Viable but Nonculturable Cells (J.D. Oliver). Index.

Starvation in bacteria

It has long been realized that plate counts can dramatically underestimate the total number of bacteria (typically determined by direct microscopic examination) present in samples taken from natural environments. In the late 1970s, several easily performed noncultural methods (Zimmerman et al., 1978; Kogure et al., 1979) for determining cell viability allowed confirmation of earlier microautoradiographic studies (e.g., Hoppe, 1976) which demonstrated that many of these nonculturable cells are indeed viable and able to actively metabolize. Such studies led to the further realization that some bacteria, in response to certain environmental stresses, may lose the ability to grow on media on which they are routinely cultured, while remaining viable. This state is of considerable interest to our understanding of microbial ecology. It is of special concern when considering release into the environment of genetically engineered microorganisms, and for those indicator bacteria (e.g., coliforms) and human pathogens which enter this nonculturable state and are thus not detectable through routine bacteriological procedures.

Formation of Viable but Nonculturable Cells

https://aslopubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.4319/lo.1974.19.3.0509

Bacteria in intertidal sediments: Factors related to their distribution1

By the staining of soil with the fluorescent dye acridinorange and examination of the stained soil under the fluorescence microscope, it is possible to observe directly the living bacteria of soil ...

S. Strugger

Papers

Fluorescence microscope examination of bacteria in soil.