Droplet Microfluidics and Directed Evolution of Enzymes: An Intertwined Journey
Open access
Date
2021-11-08Type
- Review Article
Abstract
Evolution is essential to the generation of complexity and ultimately life. It relies on the propagation of the properties, traits, and characteristics that allow an organism to survive in a challenging environment. It is evolution that shaped our world over about four billion years by slow and iterative adaptation. While natural evolution based on selection is slow and gradual, directed evolution allows the fast and streamlined optimization of a phenotype under selective conditions. The potential of directed evolution for the discovery and optimization of enzymes is mostly limited by the throughput of the tools and methods available for screening. Over the past twenty years, versatile tools based on droplet microfluidics have been developed to address the need for higher throughput. In this Review, we provide a chronological overview of the intertwined development of microfluidics droplet-based compartmentalization methods and in vivo directed evolution of enzymes. Show more
Permanent link
https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000497407Publication status
publishedExternal links
Journal / series
Angewandte Chemie. International EditionVolume
Pages / Article No.
Publisher
WileySubject
biocatalysis; directed evolution; droplet microfluidics; enzymesOrganisational unit
03807 - Dittrich, Petra / Dittrich, Petra
Funding
681587 - Engineering of hybrid cells using lab-on-chip technology (EC)
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