Microfluidic automated plasmid library enrichment for biosynthetic gene cluster discovery.

Microbial biosynthetic gene clusters are a valuable source of bioactive molecules. However, because they typically represent a small fraction of genomic material in most metagenomic samples, it remains challenging to deeply sequence them. We present an approach to isolate and sequence gene clusters...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Xu, Peng, Modavi, Cyrus, Demaree, Benjamin, Twigg, Frederick, Liang, Benjamin, Sun, Chen, Zhang, Wenjun, Abate, Adam R
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:unknown
Published: eScholarship, University of California 2020
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Online Access:https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2rc6v620
Description
Summary:Microbial biosynthetic gene clusters are a valuable source of bioactive molecules. However, because they typically represent a small fraction of genomic material in most metagenomic samples, it remains challenging to deeply sequence them. We present an approach to isolate and sequence gene clusters in metagenomic samples using microfluidic automated plasmid library enrichment. Our approach provides deep coverage of the target gene cluster, facilitating reassembly. We demonstrate the approach by isolating and sequencing type I polyketide synthase gene clusters from an Antarctic soil metagenome. Our method promotes the discovery of functional-related genes and biosynthetic pathways.