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Design, Construction, and Characterization Methodologies for Synthetic Microbial Consortia

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Engineering and Analyzing Multicellular Systems

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 1151))

Abstract

Engineered microbial consortia are of growing interest to a range of scientists including bioprocess engineers, systems biologists, and microbiologists because of their ability to simultaneously optimize multiple tasks, to test fundamental systems science, and to understand the microbial ecology of environments like chronic wounds. Metabolic engineering, synthetic biology, and microbial ecology provide a sound scientific basis for designing, building, and analyzing consortium-based microbial platforms.

This chapter outlines strategies and protocols useful for (1) in silico network design, (2) experimental strain construction, (3) consortia culturing including biofilm growth methods, and (4) physiological characterization of consortia. The laboratory and computational methods given here may be adapted for synthesis and characterization of other engineered consortia designs.

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Acknowledgments

This work was funded by National Institute of Health grant (EB006532 and P20 RR024237) and the National Science Foundation-Integrative Graduate Education and Research Training (IGERT) Program (DGE 0654336) for support to H.C.B. The authors would also like to acknowledge Alissa Bleem, Reed Taffs, James Folsom, Trevor Zuroff, and Betsey Pitts for their efforts associated with developing and iterating on the methods described here.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Center for Biofilm Engineering, Montana State University, 173920, Bozeman, MT, 59717, USA

    Hans C. Bernstein & Ross P. Carlson

Authors
  1. Hans C. Bernstein
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  2. Ross P. Carlson
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ross P. Carlson .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Life Sciences, University of Science & Technology of China,, Hefei, Anhui, China

    Lianhong Sun

  2. Division of Basic Sciences, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington, USA

    Wenying Shou

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Bernstein, H.C., Carlson, R.P. (2014). Design, Construction, and Characterization Methodologies for Synthetic Microbial Consortia. In: Sun, L., Shou, W. (eds) Engineering and Analyzing Multicellular Systems. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1151. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-0554-6_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-0554-6_4

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  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-0553-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-0554-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Protocols

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