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Cells, Microbes & Viruses / Viability of respiration-deficient yeast cells
« on: 22/03/2021 17:22:54 »
I use yeast cells and measured their chronological lifespan with SytoxGreen staining. If cells are dead, their DNA can be stained by SytoxGreen because the membranes are permeable. The stain was analyzed by flow cytometry.
In my experiments, I used respiration-deficient yeast cells (cyc3∆) and tested the percentage of the cells that were stained by SytoxGreen. The number dropped very quickly and reached 20% on day 25 of the culture. However, the number kept the same afterwards. When I ended my experiment on day 50 of the culture, 20% of the respiration-deficient cells were still 'alive', while they couldn't form any colonies on a plate.
I'm wondering why these cells could live such long. Mutation could be one of the reasons, and are there any other possibilities?
In my experiments, I used respiration-deficient yeast cells (cyc3∆) and tested the percentage of the cells that were stained by SytoxGreen. The number dropped very quickly and reached 20% on day 25 of the culture. However, the number kept the same afterwards. When I ended my experiment on day 50 of the culture, 20% of the respiration-deficient cells were still 'alive', while they couldn't form any colonies on a plate.
I'm wondering why these cells could live such long. Mutation could be one of the reasons, and are there any other possibilities?