Modified in situ antimicrobial susceptibility testing method based on cyanobacteria chlorophyll a fluorescence

The chlorophyll a fluorescence based antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) method presented in a previous work was based on the measurement of Chl a fluorescence of the gram(−) cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp. PCC 7942. Synechococcus sp. PCC 7942 as a gram(−) bacterium is affected by antibacterial agents via mechanisms affecting all gram(−) bacteria, however, as an exclusively phototrophic organism it would also be affected by photosynthesis inhibitory action of an agent that otherwise has no antibacterial properties. In this report, the method is modified by replacing the exclusively phototrophic Synechococcus sp. PCC 7942 with the Synechocystis sp. PCC 6714, capable of both phototrophic and heterotrophic growth in order to add versatility and better reflect the antibacterial effects of surfaces under study towards nonphotosynthetic bacteria.