An Improved Method for High-throughput Discrimination and Enumeration of Sedimentary Cells Using Flow Cytometry

Detection and enumeration of microbial life in marine subsurface environments provides primary information on the extent and habitability of the Earth's biosphere. Flow cytometry (FCM) is a powerful tool for identifying and enumerating fluorescence-stained cells with high throughput, using fluorescent intensity, range of wavelength, and cell size. FCM is widely used in medical sciences and aquatic microbial ecology. However, mineral grains and difficulties in distinguishing between life cells and non-specific background fluorescence prevented FCM to be applied for counting microbial cells in sediment or rock samples. SYBR Green I-stained cells can be distinguished from non-biological background signals based on differences in their fluorescence spectra. Here we extended this technique to FCM analysis by modifying the cell detachment protocol using a density gradient method, and then standardized an FCM cell counting method for various types of marine subsurface sediments. Microbial cells in sediment samples could effectively be detached and analyzed discriminatively with FCM. The high capacity of FCM to count particles (up to 10,000 cells/sec) and its high sensitivity will provide information about microbial cell abundance at high spatial resolution and with unprecedented accuracy. This improved cell count method will be useful to evaluate samples with high depth resolution, including narrow geochemical and geological interfaces as potential specific microbial niches, and may even help to asses very low population densities at the fringe of the biosphere.