Capillary electrophoresis (CE) is a popular and well recognized technique for the rapid, high efficient separation of environmentally and biologically important molecules with minimum sample preparation and sample consumption. Recent reports suggest that these same advantages may also be realized for the CE analysis of microorganisms (bacteria, virus, fungi). This presentation will provide a concise historical overview of the prior efforts related to the characterization, separation, identification and viability evaluation of bacteria and virus by CE. Whereas the early attempts employing a variety of electrophoretic based techniques suffered from poor efficiency, the recent incorporation of polymeric additives (such as polyethylene oxide (PEO), dextran, etc.) in the run buffer has allowed for highly efficient separation of intact microbes. Published applications include a rapid CE-based assay for the identification of bacteria (Staphylococcus saprophyticus or Escherichia coli) causing urinary tract infections as well as for assaying for food borne species (as Salmonella enteritidis) In addition, results concerning the attempted separation of bacteria by capillary electrophoresis with PEG coated capillaries and liquid chromatography with cryogel supports will be described. Stringent sample preparation/treatment steps are required in order to obtain reproducible results.
Back to Advances in Chromatography
Back to The 56th Southeast Regional Meeting 2004 (November 10-13, 2004)