Flow cytometric screening of cell-based libraries

Flow cytometry is a powerful, high-throughput library screening tool in numerous applications including the isolation of bioactive molecules from synthetic combinatorial libraries, the identification of virulence genes in microorganisms, and the study and engineering of protein functions. Using flow cytometry, large libraries of protein mutants expressed in microorganisms can be screened quantitatively for desired functions, including ligand binding, catalysis, expression level, and stability. Rare target cells, occurring at frequencies below 10(-6), can be detected and isolated from heterogeneous library populations using one or more cycles of cell sorting and amplification by growth. Flow cytometry is particularly powerful because it provides the unique opportunity to observe and quantitatively optimize the screening process. However, the ability to isolate cells occurring at such low frequencies within a population requires consideration and optimization of screening parameters. With this aim, an analysis of the various parameters involved in screening cell-based libraries for rare target cells possessing a desired trait is presented.