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Updated: Aug 14, 2026
Determination of Microbial Extracellular Enzyme Activity in Waters, Soils, and Sediments using High Throughput Microplate Assays
Published on: October 1, 2013
Alkaline phosphatase assay for freshwater sediments: application to perturbed sediment systems
G S Sayler1, M Puziss, M Silver
1Department of Microbiology and The Graduate Program in Ecology, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37916.
Abstract:
The p-nitrophenyl phosphate hydrolysis-phosphatase assay was modified for use in freshwater sediment. Laboratory studies indicated that the recovery of purified alkaline phosphatase activity was 100% efficient in sterile freshwater sediments when optimized incubation and sonication conditions were used. Field studies of diverse freshwater sediments demonstrated the potential use of this assay for determining stream perturbation. Significant correlations between phosphatase and total viable cell counts, as well as adenosine triphosphate biomass, suggested that alkaline phosphatase activity has utility as an indicator of microbial population density and biomass in freshwater sediments.
