|
Dissecting microbial dark matter with single-cell genomics, the recovery of genomes from individual cells, allows us to understand microbial communities on the level that represents the basic units of life – the cell. |
|
In particular, recovering genomes of individual environmental microbes enables to us decipher genetic heterogeneity within a population of closely related organisms, i.e. to separate different strains of a given species. This heterogeneity provides a selective advantage under variable environmental conditions, i.e. allows for a quick adaptation when conditions change. We are currently employing microfluidics to develop an efficient, high-throughput single-cell genomics recovery pipeline. Our goal is to use this approach to investigate microbial diversification and niche partitioning of microbial dark matter lineages and the impact of horizontal gene transfer in aquatic environments.
Mineral oil places a shear force on the gel flow and breaks the flow into monodispersed particles. |
