THE PRACTICAL UTILITY OF MULTISTATION FLOW CYTOMETRY IS PRESENTLY LIMITED BY THE HIGH COST AND COMPLEXITY OF AVAILABLE APPARATUS.

THE PRACTICAL UTILITY OF MULTISTATION FLOW CYTOMETRY IS PRESENTLY LIMITED BY THE HIGH COST AND COMPLEXITY OF AVAILABLE APPARATUS. MORE WIDESPREAD USE OF THE TECHNOLOGY FOR BIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS WOULD BE POSSIBLE IF SIMPLER INSTRUMENTS, INCORPORATING LESS EXPENSIVE COMPONENTS, COULD BE USED TO DO TASKS WHICH NOW REQUIRE FLOW CYTOMETERS WITH LARGE ION LASER LIGHT SOURCES. WE PROPOSE TO DRAW ON EXTENSIVE EXPERIENCE IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF EFFICIENT AND ECONOMICAL MULTISTATION FLOW CYTOMETERS TO DETERMINE WHETHER THE RANGE OF TASKS TO WHICH THESE SYSTEMS ARE SUITED CAN BE EXTENDED. IN PARTICULAR, WE WILL DETERMINE WHETHER DNA CONTENT AND BASE COMPOSITION MEASUREMENTS OF BACTERIA AND CHROMOSOMES CAN BE MADE USING A HELIUM-CADMIUM LASER SOURCE IN PLACE OF TWO LARGER, LESS EFFICIENT, MORE COSTLY ION LASER SOURCES. WE WILL INVESTIGATE THE FEASIBILITY OF MAKING TWO-PARAMETER FLUORESCENCE MEASUREMENTS USING EXCITATION FROM AN INEXPENSIVE HELIUM-NEON LASER, WHICH WE HAVE ALREADY EXPLOITED AS AN EFFECTIVE LIGHT SOURCE FOR FLOW CYTOMETRIC DETERMINATION OF CELL MEMBRANE POTENTIAL, RNA CONTENT, AND CELL SURFACE IMMUNOFLUORESCENCE. WE WILL ALSO INVESTIGATE WHETHER THE LARGE APERTURE FLOW SORTER CONFIGURATION WE HAVE DEVELOPED IS SUITABLE FOR PREPARATIVE SORTING OF PLANT CELL PROTOPLASTS AND CELL HYBRIDS.