An improved method for nanogold in situ hybridization visualized with environmental scanning electron microscopy.

摘要

Introduction:An important goal in geomicrobiology is the identification of microbes associated with specific mineral surfaces. Yet, simultaneously collecting phylogenetic and' mineral information remains methodologically challenging. Recently, whole-cell in situ hybridization techniques using oligo-nucleotide rRNA probes bound to nanogold particles have been used to detect microbes with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) for geomicrobiological applications (Gerard et al, 2005; Kenzaka et al, 2005). These techniques rely on backscattered electron images or energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy to map the presence and distribution of nanogold, and to identify areas of rRNA hybridization within cells and on mineral surfaces.