I am a beginner (not much expert) in the field of Microbiology, but In my opinion metabolically active bacteria means when bacteria takes up some substrate, metabolize it and release/produce some product. Many of the examples can be cited, but currently which comes in my mind is... when we do some biochemical tests for the identification of bacteria like starch and gelatin hydrolysis...starch and gelatin is hydrolysed due to metabolically active nature of bacteria. Similarly, in citrate utilization test... the medium color is green before inoculation but after inoculation bacteria utilizes citric acid as C-source and pH of the medium increases resulted in blue color of the medium. This is due to metabolically activeness of the bacteria.
Some other examples (but not limited) of metabolically active bacteria.... biofilm production, bioremediation of polluted sites, pigment production, toleration to extreme environments, showing enzymatic activities, etc.
Whereas, non metabolically active bacteria does not show such characteristics.
But one exception is the biosorption of heavy metals by non metabolically active bacteria (and/or dead bacterial biomass).
I think.... I am somewhat correct in my saying. If anywhere I am wrong.. please correct me, and eager to see others comments on this topic.
Thanks.
Metabolism- the chemical processes that occur within a living organism in order to maintain life.
The question asked how to distinguish between metabolically active bacteria from non metabolically active bacteria.
All live cells are metabolically active.
If you want to distinguish between live and dead bacterial cells, you can plate a broth dilutions containing the bacteria onto plate count agar and count Colony Forming Units (CFUs)
Here is a link for the method:
https://www.inkling.com/read/photographic-atlas-microbiology-laboratory-michael-leboffe-4th/chapter-18/standard-plate-count-viable
If there is something more specific that you are looking for, other than "Metabolically active", then further detail will be needed.
Best Regards
-WJV-
For that purpose you can use TVC (Total Viable Count) staining method, or other staining methods as CFDA or FDA.
The methods mentioned before are based on the esterase activity of bacteria, so you can distinguish between metabolically active and non-metabolically active bacterial cells.
Apart from that you can also use culture methods. However, by using culture methods you could be underestimating the presence of viable but not cultivable bacteria (VBNC).
Best Regards,
Sílvia
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