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High-throughput detection of ethanol-producing cyanobacteria in a microdroplet platform.


Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Abalde-Cela, Sara 
Gould, Anna 
Liu, Xin 
Kazamia, Elena 
Smith, Alison G 

Abstract

Ethanol production by microorganisms is an important renewable energy source. Most processes involve fermentation of sugars from plant feedstock, but there is increasing interest in direct ethanol production by photosynthetic organisms. To facilitate this, a high-throughput screening technique for the detection of ethanol is required. Here, a method for the quantitative detection of ethanol in a microdroplet-based platform is described that can be used for screening cyanobacterial strains to identify those with the highest ethanol productivity levels. The detection of ethanol by enzymatic assay was optimized both in bulk and in microdroplets. In parallel, the encapsulation of engineered ethanol-producing cyanobacteria in microdroplets and their growth dynamics in microdroplet reservoirs were demonstrated. The combination of modular microdroplet operations including droplet generation for cyanobacteria encapsulation, droplet re-injection and pico-injection, and laser-induced fluorescence, were used to create this new platform to screen genetically engineered strains of cyanobacteria with different levels of ethanol production.

Description

Keywords

biofuels, cyanobacteria, fluorescence, microdroplets, Batch Cell Culture Techniques, Cell Separation, Cyanobacteria, Equipment Design, Equipment Failure Analysis, Ethanol, Flow Cytometry, High-Throughput Screening Assays, Lab-On-A-Chip Devices

Journal Title

J R Soc Interface

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

1742-5689
1742-5662

Volume Title

12

Publisher

The Royal Society
Sponsorship
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/I013164/1)
Economic and Social Research Council (RES-168-26-0125)
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/I00680X/1)
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/D011043/1)
This research has received funding from EC within the FP7 DEMA project, grant agreement no. 309086. Both S.A.C. and E.K. are supported by DEMA funding.