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Function-Oriented Graphene Quantum Dots Probe for Single Cell in situ Sorting of Active Microorganisms in
Yeshen Luo1,2,3, Fei Liu2, Jianhua Song2
1Guangzhou Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China.
Frontiers in Microbiology
|June 11, 2021
Summary
A new graphene quantum dot probe identifies and sorts azo-degrading bacteria directly from environmental samples. This method enables rapid assessment of pollution levels and isolation of highly efficient microbial strains for bioremediation.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Science
- Microbiology
- Materials Science
Background:
- Functional microorganisms are crucial for bioremediation due to their metabolic diversity.
- Identifying and isolating specific pollutant-degrading bacteria from complex environmental samples remains challenging.
- Existing methods for functional microbial assessment can be time-consuming and lack specificity.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a function-oriented probe for specific identification and sorting of azo-degrading bacteria.
- To establish a rapid, in-situ method for assessing environmental functional microbial populations.
- To enable large-scale culturing and isolation of high-activity azo-degrading bacteria.
Main Methods:
- Synthesis of nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dots (GQDs-N).
- Development of a fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based probe (GQDs-M) by conjugating GQDs-N with methyl red.
- Utilizing bioimaging and a visual single-cell sorter for bacteria identification and isolation.
Main Results:
- The GQDs-M probe demonstrated specific recognition of azo-degrading bacteria via fluorescence recovery upon azo bond cleavage.
- Bioimaging successfully identified target bacteria in environmental samples, enabling rapid assessment of microbial populations.
- The single-cell sorting strategy accurately isolated 17 strains with azo degradation function, including novel high-efficiency strains of *Bacillus pacificus* and *Bacillus wiedmannii*.
Conclusions:
- The FRET-based GQDs-M probe offers a novel, accurate, and efficient method for identifying and sorting functional bacteria.
- This strategy facilitates rapid preliminary assessment of environmental pollution levels and accelerates the discovery of new microbial resources for bioremediation.
- The developed technique holds significant potential for isolating novel or high-activity functional bacterial species.
