Open AccessDirected Evolution in Drops: Molecular Aspects and Applications
Author(s) -
Aitor Manteca,
Alejandra Gadea,
David Van Assche,
Pauline Cossard,
Mélanie Gillard-Bocquet,
Thomas Beneyton,
C.A. Innis,
JeanChristophe Baret
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
acs synthetic biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.156
H-Index - 66
ISSN - 2161-5063
DOI - 10.1021/acssynbio.1c00313
Subject(s) - microfluidics , workflow , biomolecule , computer science , nanotechnology , process (computing) , sorting , biochemical engineering , directed evolution , computational biology , chemistry , biology , materials science , engineering , biochemistry , database , mutant , gene , programming language , operating system
The process of optimizing the properties of biological molecules is paramount for many industrial and medical applications. Directed evolution is a powerful technique for modifying and improving biomolecules such as proteins or nucleic acids (DNA or RNA). Mimicking the mechanism of natural evolution, one can enhance a desired property by applying a suitable selection pressure and sorting improved variants. Droplet-based microfluidic systems offer a high-throughput solution to this approach by helping to overcome the limiting screening steps and allowing the analysis of variants within increasingly complex libraries. Here, we review cases where successful evolution of biomolecules was achieved using droplet-based microfluidics, focusing on the molecular processes involved and the incorporation of microfluidics to the workflow. We highlight the advantages and limitations of these microfluidic systems compared to low-throughput methods and show how the integration of these systems into directed evolution workflows can open new avenues to discover or improve biomolecules according to user-defined conditions.