Microbial single-cell applications under anoxic conditions

Abstract

The field of microbiology traditionally focue on tudying microorganim at the population level. Neverthele, the application of ingle-cell level method, including microfluidic and imaging technique, ha revealed heterogeneity within population, making thee method eential to undertand cellular activitie and interaction at a higher reolution. Moreover, ingle-cell orting ha opened new avenue for iolating cell of interet from microbial population or complex microbial communitie. Thee iolated cell can be further interrogated in downtream ingle-cell “omic” analye, providing phyiological and functional information. However, applying thee method to tudy anaerobic microorganim under in situ condition remain challenging due to their enitivity to oxygen. Here, we review the exiting methodologie for the analyi of viable anaerobic microorganim at the ingle-cell level, including live-imaging, cell orting, and microfluidic (lab-on-chip) application, and we addre the challenge involved in their anoxic operation. Additionally, we dicu the development of non-detructive imaging technique tailored for anaerobe, uch a oxygen-independent fluorecent probe and alternative approache.