Microbial Community Analysis: Methods and Techniques

This lecture covers the methods and techniques used to analyze microbial communities, including culture-dependent and culture-independent approaches. It discusses enrichment culture microbiology, classical procedures for isolating microbes, selective single-cell isolation methods, and the use of fluorescence in situ hybridization. The lecture also explores the concept of enrichment bias, dilution-to-extinction techniques, and the application of flow cytometry in microbial analysis. Additionally, it delves into the principles of staining methods, viability staining, and the use of nucleic acid probes for fluorescence in situ hybridization. The lecture concludes with a discussion on molecular methods such as hybridization for studying microbial communities.