Advanced strategies and tools to facilitate and streamline microbial adaptive laboratory evolution

Yinan Wu; Aysha Jameel; Xin-Hui Xing; Chong Zhang

doi:10.1016/j.tibtech.2021.04.002

Advanced strategies and tools to facilitate and streamline microbial adaptive laboratory evolution

Trends Biotechnol. 2022 Jan;40(1):38-59. doi: 10.1016/j.tibtech.2021.04.002. Epub 2021 May 3.

Authors

Yinan Wu¹, Aysha Jameel¹, Xin-Hui Xing², Chong Zhang³

Affiliations

¹ MOE Key Laboratory for Industrial Biocatalysis, Institute of Biochemical Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
² MOE Key Laboratory for Industrial Biocatalysis, Institute of Biochemical Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China; Center for Synthetic and Systems Biology, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China.
³ MOE Key Laboratory for Industrial Biocatalysis, Institute of Biochemical Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China; Center for Synthetic and Systems Biology, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China. Electronic address: chongzhang@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn.

PMID: 33958227
DOI: 10.1016/j.tibtech.2021.04.002

Abstract

Adaptive laboratory evolution (ALE) has served as a historic microbial engineering method that mimics natural selection to obtain desired microbes. The past decade has witnessed improvements in all aspects of ALE workflow, in terms of growth coupling, genotypic diversification, phenotypic selection, and genotype-phenotype mapping. The developing growth-coupling strategies facilitate ALE to a wider range of appealing traits. In vivo mutagenesis methods and multiplexed automated culture platforms open new gates to streamline its execution. Meanwhile, the application of multi-omics analyses and multiplexed genetic engineering promote efficient knowledge mining. This article provides a comprehensive and updated review of these advances, highlights newest significant applications, and discusses future improvements, aiming to provide a practical guide for implementation of novel, effective, and efficient ALE experiments.

Keywords: adaptive laboratory evolution; growth-coupling strategy; in vivo mutagenesis method; microbial engineering; multi-omics analysis; multiplexed automated culture platform.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

Genetic Engineering*
Genotype
Mutagenesis
Phenotype