Droplet-based microfluidic platform for high-throughput screening of Streptomyces

Commun Biol. 2021 May 31;4(1):647. doi: 10.1038/s42003-021-02186-y.

Abstract

Streptomyces are one of the most important industrial microorganisms for the production of proteins and small-molecule drugs. Previously reported flow cytometry-based screening methods can only screen spores or protoplasts released from mycelium, which do not represent the filamentous stationary phase Streptomyces used in industrial cultivation. Here we show a droplet-based microfluidic platform to facilitate more relevant, reliable and rapid screening of Streptomyces mycelium, and achieved an enrichment ratio of up to 334.2. Using this platform, we rapidly characterized a series of native and heterologous constitutive promoters in Streptomyces lividans 66 in droplets, and efficiently screened out a set of engineered promoter variants with desired strengths from two synthetic promoter libraries. We also successfully screened out several hyperproducers of cellulases from a random S. lividans 66 mutant library, which had 69.2-111.4% greater cellulase production than the wild type. Our method provides a fast, simple, and powerful solution for the industrial engineering and screening of Streptomyces in more industry-relevant conditions.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • High-Throughput Screening Assays / methods
  • Metabolic Engineering / methods
  • Microfluidics / methods*
  • Mycelium / metabolism*
  • Mycelium / physiology
  • Promoter Regions, Genetic / genetics
  • Streptomyces / genetics
  • Streptomyces / metabolism*
  • Streptomyces lividans / genetics
  • Streptomyces lividans / metabolism