Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Microbial Gluttony

Microautoradiography - a technique whereby radioactively labeled microbe food (like glucose) is added to a sample to determine which microbes take it up and emit radioactive decay particles.

How much of the compound a microbial cell eats is visible by how much radioactivity it emits. Under the microscope, I can see that the microbe on the right is gluttonous. The others either didn't like the compound I added, or they couldn't use it.
Tell everyone you know.


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