Living in a bubble: On chip monitoring of microbial production in lipid vesicles

Abstract

We present a novel microbial cultivation strategy combined with a microfluidic platform for real-time monitoring of microbial growth and production. Escherichia coli overexpressing the riboflavin (vitamin B2) biosynthetic pathway is encapsulated in giant lipid vesicles (GUVs) and cultivated on-chip. The behavior of cultures under optimum conditions and under antibiotic stress are compared.