Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Web of Science (3) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by de Nooijer, L. J. Articles by van der Zwaan, G. J. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

NOVEL APPLICATION OF MTT REDUCTION: A VIABILITY ASSAY FOR TEMPERATE SHALLOW-WATER BENTHIC FORAMINIFERA

¹ Department of Stratigraphy and Paleontology, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, Budapestlaan 4, 3584 CD Utrecht, The Netherlands. Email: nooijer{at}geo.uu.nl
² Department of Biogeology, Faculty of Sciences, Radboud University, Toernooiveld 1, 6525 ED Nijmegen, The Netherlands.

Studies on living benthic foraminifera commonly involve staining samples with rose Bengal (RB) to distinguish living from dead individuals. Since RB also stains individuals that have died recently (sometimes weeks earlier) and are not fully decayed, standing stocks of foraminiferal communities are usually overestimated. To overcome this bias, we discuss a new viability assay based on the reduction of a tetrazolium salt, MTT (3-(4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide or thiazolyl blue) by living foraminifera. The tetrazolium salt MTT is actively ingested by cells and subsequently converted enzymatically from a yellow, soluble form to a reddish purple crystal. Experiments confirm that living individuals of Ammonia beccarii and Globobulimina turgida convert MTT and become stained within 24 hours. Some dead foraminifers may continue enzymatic activity for several days, but produce a different coloration than that of stained living foraminifers. With the reduced problem of false positives, this assay is an improvement over staining samples with RB whenever a higher accuracy is required (e.g., in short-term laboratory experiments).

This article has been cited by other articles:

				Y. van Lith, A. M. Langezaal, L. J. de Nooijer, and G. J. van der Zwaan BENTHIC FORAMINIFERAL EFFECT ON NITROGEN AND CARBON CYCLING Journal of Foraminiferal Research, April 1, 2009; 39(2): 97 - 111. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]