Advanced genetic engineering of microbial cells for biosensing applications

Abstract

Microbial biosensors have been recognized as one of the potent types of biosensors since they provide unique data on global activities of target analytes from the cellular responses, which cannot be obtained from the conventional chemistry-based biosensing techniques. They also exhibit distinct advantages such as low-cost production, obvious and robust cell growth in diverse reaction environments, a high degree of convenience to perform analysis than existing technologies, and multiplexed analyzing capability by the proper incorporation of molecularly tailored reporter cells. To highlight the progress in the field of microbial biosensors, this chapter discusses recent research results for the genetic engineering of reporter cells, methods to immobilize cells and maintain cell viability, and recent application studies that are distributed into the types of signal transducers. On the basis of these results, we discuss current challenges for practical applications of microbial biosensors and list the future needs for their potent use in monitoring complex biological processes. © 2018Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA. Published 2018 byWiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.