Flow cytometry and bacterial pathogenesis.

Our understanding of microbial adaptations to diverse and threatening environments is limited by the assumption that the behavior of individual bacteria can be accurately determined by measuring the behavior of populations. Recent advances in gene expression reporter systems, fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry allow microbiologists to explore the complex interactions between bacteria and their environment with single cell resolution. The application of these technologies has been particularly useful in systems, such as host-pathogen interactions, where genetic analysis is often cumbersome. Recently, flow cytometry is increasingly being applied to study host-pathogen interactions.