Repository logo
 

Cell-free Directed Evolution of a Protease in Microdroplets at Ultrahigh Throughput.

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Holstein, Josephin M 
Gylstorff, Christian 
Hollfelder, Florian  ORCID logo  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1367-6312

Abstract

Compartmentalization of single genes in water-in-oil emulsion droplets is a powerful approach to create millions of reactors for enzyme library selections. When these droplets are formed at ultrahigh throughput in microfluidic devices, their perfect monodispersity allows quantitative enzyme assays with a high precision readout. However, despite its potential for high quality cell-free screening experiments, previous demonstrations of enrichment have never been successfully followed up by actual enzyme library selections in monodisperse microfluidic droplets. Here we develop a three-step workflow separating three previously incompatible steps that thus far could not be carried out at once: first droplet-compartmentalized DNA is amplified by rolling circle amplification; only after completion of this step are reagents for in vitro protein expression and, finally, substrate added via picoinjection. The segmented workflow is robust enough to allow the first in vitro evolution in droplets, improving the protease Savinase that is toxic to E. coli for higher activity and identifying a 5-fold faster enzyme.

Description

Keywords

cell-free protein synthesis, directed evolution, microfluidics, protein engineering, ultrahigh throughput, Bacillus, Bacterial Proteins, Base Sequence, DNA, Bacterial, Directed Molecular Evolution, Emulsions, Escherichia coli, Genes, Bacterial, High-Throughput Screening Assays, Microfluidic Analytical Techniques, Microfluidics, Nucleic Acid Amplification Techniques, Plasmids, Protein Engineering, Serine Endopeptidases, Workflow

Journal Title

ACS Synth Biol

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

2161-5063
2161-5063

Volume Title

10

Publisher

American Chemical Society (ACS)

Rights

All rights reserved
Sponsorship
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/H046593/1)
European Commission Horizon 2020 (H2020) ERC (695664)
European Commission Horizon 2020 (H2020) Industrial Leadership (IL) (206410)
European Commission (324439)