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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, June 2005, p. 3137-3143, Vol. 71, No. 6
0099-2240/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.71.6.3137-3143.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Continuous-Flow Capillary Assay for Measuring Bacterial Chemotaxis

Aaron M. J. Law* and Michael D. Aitken

Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, CB 7431, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599-7431

Received 15 October 2004/ Accepted 4 January 2005

Bacterial chemotaxis may have a significant impact on the structure and function of bacterial communities. Quantification of chemotactic motion is necessary to identify chemoeffectors and to determine the bacterial transport parameters used in predictive models of chemotaxis. When the chemotactic bacteria consume the chemoeffector, the chemoeffector gradient to which the bacteria respond may be significantly perturbed by the consumption. Therefore, consumption of the chemoeffector can confound chemotaxis measurements if it is not accounted for. Current methods of quantifying chemotaxis use bacterial concentrations that are too high to preclude chemoeffector consumption or involve ill-defined conditions that make quantifying chemotaxis difficult. We developed a method of quantifying bacterial chemotaxis at low cell concentrations (~105 CFU/ml), so metabolism of the chemoeffector is minimized. The method facilitates quantification of bacterial-transport parameters by providing well-defined boundary conditions and can be used with volatile and semivolatile chemoeffectors.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, CB 7431, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7431. Phone: (919) 966-3860. Fax: (919) 966-7911. E-mail: aaron_law{at}unc.edu.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, June 2005, p. 3137-3143, Vol. 71, No. 6
0099-2240/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.71.6.3137-3143.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.





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