Can the KINEMATICA POLYTRON disrupt or homogenize bacterial or yeast cells?
The answer in a word is “No.” Bacterial and yeast cells are very slippery and malleable. They can very easily slip and slide through the rotor/stator actions with little or no significant damage. If you want to break up bacteria or yeast cells, then the only two ways to do so would be with a sonicator or with what is called a “high pressure/high shear” homogenizer. The sonicator produces high frequency sound waves from which the bacteria cannot “run and hide from,” and it causes them to break apart. The high-pressure unit forces the sample containing bacteria through a very small orifice, and the combination of the high pressure and being forced through the small orifice causes the bacteria to literally burst open. If you want to isolate bacterial cells from a sample containing cell wall materials that encapsulate the bacteria, then use the POLYTRON in the isolation procedure to obtain viable bacterial or yeast cells.
