Raman spectroscopic identification of single yeast cells

Abstract

Eukaryotes (such as yeasts) and prokaryotes (such as bacteria) differ in size, molecular complexity, etc. By definition, eukaryotic cells store their DNA in a separate internal compartment, the so-called nucleus. Owing to this molecular compartmentalization, the identification of yeast cells by vibrational spectroscopy at a single-cell level is challenging. This contribution reports on first results of micro-Raman analysis together with a hierarchical cluster analysis allowing for an online identification method for yeast cells at a single-cell level. For the classification analysis, an average spectrum from 10 different measuring points within a single yeast cell was used to overcome the heterogeneity of the yeast cells. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.