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Generation of Stable, Light-Driven Co-cultures of Cyanobacteria with Heterotrophic Microbes

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Plant Synthetic Biology

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 2379))

Abstract

Co-cultivation of an autotrophic species with one or more heterotrophic microbes is a strategy for photobiological production of high-value compounds and is relatively underexplored in comparison to cyanobacterial or microalgal monocultures. Long-term stability of such consortia is required for useful collaboration between the partners, and this property can be increased by encapsulation of phototrophic partners within a hydrogel. Encapsulated cyanobacteria have advantages relative to planktonic cultures that may be useful to explore the potential for artificial microbial communities for targeted biomolecule synthesis, such as increased control over population sizes and reduced liquid handling requirements. In this chapter, we describe a method for encapsulation of genetically modified cyanobacterial strain (Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942, CscB+) into a sodium alginate matrix, and the utilization of these encapsulated cells to construct stable, artificial autotroph/heterotroph co-cultures. This method has applications for the study of phototroph-based synthetic microbial consortia, and multi-species photobiological production.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Department of Energy (Grant: DE-FG02-91ER20021), as well as by NSF Grant CBET #1437657.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA

    Amit K. Singh & Daniel C. Ducat

  2. Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA

    Daniel C. Ducat

Authors
  1. Amit K. Singh
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  2. Daniel C. Ducat
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Daniel C. Ducat .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Synthetic Biology and CEPLAS, University of Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany

    Matias D. Zurbriggen

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Singh, A.K., Ducat, D.C. (2022). Generation of Stable, Light-Driven Co-cultures of Cyanobacteria with Heterotrophic Microbes. In: Zurbriggen, M.D. (eds) Plant Synthetic Biology. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 2379. Humana, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-1791-5_16

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-1791-5_16

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  • Publisher Name: Humana, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-0716-1790-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-0716-1791-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Protocols

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