MycoLight™ Bacterial Viability Assay Kit

AAT Bioquest's Mycolight™ Bacterial Viability Assay Kit provides two-color fluorescence assay of bacterial viability in both gram-positive and negative bacterial cell. The kit utilizes the mixture of our green fluorescent nucleic acid stain MycoLight™ Green and the red-fluorescent nucleic acid stain propidium iodide. When used alone, the MycoLight™ Green stain generally labels all bacteria (live and dead) in a population. In contrast, propidium iodide penetrates only bacteria with damaged membranes, causing a reduction in the MycoLight™ Green stain fluorescence when both dyes are present. Thus, with an appropriate mixture of the MycoLight™ Green and propidium iodide stains, live bacteria with intact cell membranes emits green fluorescence, whereas dead or dying bacteria with damaged membranes gives red fluorescence. The Mycolight ™ Bacterial Viability Assay Kit is a robust tool for monitoring the viability of bacterial populations as a function of the membrane integrity of the cell. Stained cells can be monitored fluorimetrically at 510-530 nm (FITC filter) and 600-660 nm (Texas red filter) with excitation at 488 nm, the most common excitation light source.