Interplay of metagenomics and in vitro compartmentalization

Manuel Ferrer, Ana Beloqui, José María Vieites, María Eugenia Guazzaroni, Ilana Berger, Amir Aharoni

Research output: Contribution to journalShort surveypeer-review

27 Scopus citations

Abstract

In recent years, the application of approaches for harvesting DNA from the environment, the so-called, 'metagenomic approaches' has proven to be highly successful for the identification, isolation and generation of novel enzymes. Functional screening for the desired catalytic activity is one of the key steps in mining metagenomic libraries, as it does not rely on sequence homology. In this mini-review, we survey high-throughput screening tools, originally developed for directed evolution experiments, which can be readily adapted for the screening of large libraries. In particular, we focus on the use of in vitro compartmentalization (IVC) approaches to address potential advantages and problems the merger of cultureindependent and IVC techniques might bring on the mining of enzyme activities in microbial communities.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)31-39
Number of pages9
JournalMicrobial Biotechnology
Volume2
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jan 2009

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Biotechnology
  • Bioengineering
  • Biochemistry
  • Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology

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