FIG. 2.

Determination of viable cell fraction by EMA-PCR. An overnight culture containing approximately 5.0 × 10⁸ CFU/ml was diluted in a background of corresponding heat-killed bacteria (boiled for 10 min). The fraction of viable cells as determined by EMA-PCR was plotted against that of cultures with known fractions of viable cells. The broken line depends on the fraction of dead cells in fresh cultures (see text for explanations). The error bars represent standard deviations from three independent replicates.