Instrument: Liquid Scintillation Counter
Liquid scintillation counting is an analytical technique which is defined by the incorporation of the radiolabeled analyte into uniform distribution with a liquid chemical medium capable of converting the kinetic energy of nuclear emissions into light energy. Although the liquid scintillation counter is a sophisticated laboratory counting system used the quantify the activity of particulate emitting (ß and a) radioactive samples, it can also detect the auger electrons emitted from 51Cr and 125I samples.
Live incubations were terminated with TCA and an extraction protocol modified from Dixon & Turley (2001, Microb. Ecol. 42:549) was used to isolate the protein + DNA fraction, which was analyzed by liquid scintillation counting for 3H-Leu incorporation.