TY - JOUR
T1 - Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density
AU - Interlab Study Contributors iGEM
AU - Beal, Jacob
AU - Farny, Natalie G.
AU - Haddock-Angelli, Traci
AU - Selvarajah, Vinoo
AU - Baldwin, Geoff S.
AU - Buckley-Taylor, Russell
AU - Gershater, Markus
AU - Kiga, Daisuke
AU - Marken, John
AU - Sanchania, Vishal
AU - Sison, Abigail
AU - Workman, Christopher T.
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals
AB - Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals
U2 - 10.1038/s42003-020-01127-5
DO - 10.1038/s42003-020-01127-5
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 32943734
SN - 2399-3642
VL - 3
JO - Communications Biology
JF - Communications Biology
IS - 1
M1 - 512
ER -