Transient fluorescence in synchronously dividing Escherichia coli.

Using a spectrometer equipped with an optical multichannel analyzer as the detector, we observed the Stokes laser-Raman spectra of metabolically synchronous Escherichia coli from 100 to 2100 cm-1. After more than 400 separate recordings, at cell concentrations of 10(7)-10(8) per ml, no Raman lines attributable to the metabolic process nor to the cells themselves were found. However, we did find that synchronous E. coli cultures become more fluorescent during a limited phase of the division cycle. This transient increase in fluorescence may be ascribed to a variation in the redox state of a chemical species within the bacteria or to a variation of the intracellular optical field. The effect is reproducible in synchronous cultures and it is not seen in asynchronous ones. The results suggest that spectral features seen in previous laser-Raman spectra of synchronous bacteria (taken with scanning monochromators) are due to a time-dependent variation in bacterial fluorescence.