Microbial Culture and Detection Technology in a Confined Cell-sized Small Compartment

Abstract

Microorganisms, which are important in the origin of life, live in various environments on Earth. Some microorganisms can survive in extreme environments, including the very specific environment of an intracellular ultra-small confined space. We are developing several techniques for culturing and analyzing the microorganisms in an ultra-small confined space (10–40 μm), such as water-in-oil (w/o) droplets or giant unilamellar vesicles (GUV). In this review, w/o droplets and GUV are considered as a special/extreme environment regarding their size. We introduce the culturing, analysis, and detection technologies of microorganisms inside the w/o droplets and the GUV that have been developed. Our developed technology can be expected to contribute to the field of biotechnology as a new microbial culture/screening system. We hope that it will lead to the study of an endosymbiotic model that serves as a model for eukaryotic cells at the time of the origin of life.