Sensitive and Rapid Phenotyping of Microbes With Soluble Methane Monooxygenase Using a Droplet-Based Assay.

ABSTRACT: Methanotrophs with soluble methane monooxygenase (sMMO) show high potential for various ecological and biotechnological applications. Here, we developed a high throughput method to identify sMMO-producing microbes by integrating droplet microfluidics and a genetic circuit-based biosensor system. sMMO-producers and sensor cells were encapsulated in monodispersed droplets with benzene as the substrate and incubated for 5 h. The sensor cells were analyzed as the reporter for phenol-sensitive transcription activation of fluorescence. Various combinations of methanotrophs and biosensor cells were investigated to optimize the performance of our droplet-integrated transcriptional factor biosensor system. As a result, the conditions to ensure sMMO activity to convert the starting material, benzene

SUBMITTER: Lee H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7193049 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature