Biotechnology Bulletin ›› 2017, Vol. 33 ›› Issue (1): 83-92.doi: 10.13560/j.cnki.biotech.bull.1985.2017.01.009

• Orignal Article • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Ultra-high-throughput Screening System Based on Droplet Microfluidics and Its Applications in Synthetic Biology

MA Fu-qiang1, YANG Guang-yu1, 2   

  1. 1. School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology,Shanghai Jiao Tong University,Shanghai 200240;
    2. Shanghai Collaborative Innovation Center for Biomanufacturing,East China University of Science and Technology,Shanghai 200237
  • Received:2016-10-14 Online:2017-01-25 Published:2017-01-19

Abstract: The construction of a highly efficient synthetic biological system requires laborious screening work to optimize the performance of artificial system. Droplet microfluidic techniques miniaturize traditional screening systems,in a uniform pico-liter micro-reactors,the detection of enzymatic reactions and metabolites at single-cell level were measured and screened,thus it can screen genes/cells at a speed up to >108 events per day,which greatly improves the optimizing capability of catalytic parts and engineered strains. Herein,the technical backgrounds while applying droplet microfluidics in synthetic biology system are summarized,focusing on the fluorescence-coupling strategies in the detection of target enzyme reactions and metabolites. Moreover,recent progress on employing droplet microfluidics in the screening and engineering of catalytic parts and metabolic pathways is reviewed,the developing trends of this field are discussed.

Key words: droplet microfluidics, synthetic biology, metabolic pathway, enzyme, high-throughput screening