Consistent with this hypothesis, inhibiting PKC d leads to increased DNA synthesis that can be detected within 2 hours. Activation of protein kinase C triggers its ubiquitination and degradation. Knowing the size of bacteria is critical to understanding ecological relationships, such as ability to take up nutrients, and predator-prey relationships. But current methods for determining size are not all that precise. Roland Psenner and colleagues of the University of Innsbruck, Austria, have developed an exceedingly clever method for determining the mass of bacteria, using transmission electron microscopy and densitometric image analysis.
Small bacteria are relatively richer in mass than larger ones.
The researchers are now working on establishing a relationship between cell size, mass, and DNA, and measuring volume using flow cytometers. Determination of bacterial cell dry mass by transmission electron microscopy and densitometric image analysis. The frequency of epidemics caused by eating food contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes has been rising over the past 20 years. This work may prove to be a foundation for the development of new, nonantibiotic methods for food safety assurance. Listeria compounds produced by Geotrichum candidum .