Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, 8600, Dübendorf, Switzerland,
Adv Biochem Eng Biotechnol. 2011;124:123-50. doi: 10.1007/10_2010_95.
Cultivation-independent assessment of bacterial viability is essential when (1) results are required fast and at high throughput, and/or (2) when the specific target or mode-of-action of a certain bactericidal process is of interest, and/or (3) when the organisms under investigation are regarded as "uncultivable". However, aside from cultivation, there exists no "silver bullet" method that demonstrates with absolute certainty whether an organism is alive or dead, and all currently available methods are prone to produce varying results with different organisms and in different environments. Here we discuss the fundamental concept of viability in bacteria, with specific focus on the main aspects that define it. It is argued that the presence of intact and functional nucleic acids, as well as an intact and polarized cytoplasmic membrane are essential components of cellular viability, while numerous other parameters and processes that are linked to viability are explored. Different methods/approaches are discussed with particular emphasis on the advantages and disadvantages of each approach, the applicability of the methods toward environmental samples, and the underlying link between the various viability parameters.
当（1）需要快速且高通量的结果时，和/或（2）当特定的杀菌过程的特定目标或作用模式是感兴趣的，和/或（3）当被调查的生物体被认为是“不可培养的”时，非培养依赖性的细菌生存力评估是至关重要的。然而，除了培养之外，没有一种“银弹”方法可以绝对肯定地证明一个生物体是死是活，并且所有现有的方法都容易在不同的生物体和不同的环境中产生不同的结果。在这里，我们讨论了细菌生存力的基本概念，特别关注定义其的主要方面。有人认为，完整和功能核酸的存在，以及完整和极化的细胞质膜是细胞生存力的重要组成部分，同时还探讨了与生存力相关的许多其他参数和过程。不同的方法/方法进行了讨论，特别强调了每种方法的优缺点、方法对环境样本的适用性以及各种生存力参数之间的潜在联系。
