Microfluidic Digital PCR Enables Multigene Analysis of Individual Environmental Bacteria
Abstract
Gene inventory and metagenomic techniques have allowed rapid exploration of bacterial diversity and the potential physiologies present within microbial communities. However, it remains nontrivial to discover the identities of environmental bacteria carrying two or more genes of interest. We have used microfluidic digital polymerase chain reaction (PCR) to amplify and analyze multiple, different genes obtained from single bacterial cells harvested from nature. A gene encoding a key enzyme involved in the mutualistic symbiosis occurring between termites and their gut microbiota was used as an experimental hook to discover the previously unknown ribosomal RNA–based species identity of several symbionts. The ability to systematically identify bacteria carrying a particular gene and to link any two or more genes of interest to single species residing in complex ecosystems opens up new opportunities for research on the environment.
Additional Information
© 2006 American Association for the Advancement of Science. Received 16 June 2006; accepted 30 October 2006. We thank M. Unger, A. Daridon, and L. Warren for advice and discussions. Supported by NIH grant 1RO1 HG002644-01A1, NIH National Research Service Award grant 5 T32 GM07616, an NIH Director's Pioneer Award, and NSF grant DEB-0321753. S.R.Q. is a founder, shareholder, and consultant for Fluidigm Corporation.Attached Files
Supplemental Material - Ottesen.SOM.pdf
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Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 37944
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20130415-133930527
- NIH
- 1RO1 HG002644-01A1
- NIH Predoctoral Fellowship
- 5 T32 GM07616
- NSF
- DEB-0321753
- Created
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2013-04-15Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
-
2021-11-09Created from EPrint's last_modified field
- Caltech groups
- Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences (GPS)