Spectral Algal Fingerprinting and Long Sequencing in Synthetic Algal–Microbial Communities

Ayagoz Meirkhanova, Sabina Marks, Nicole Feja, Ivan A. Vorobjev, Natasha S. Barteneva

2024

Full text Open access: Gold Metadata (CSL-JSON)
DOI 10.3390/cells13181552
Data confidence 70 medium
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Abstract

Abstract Synthetic biology has made progress in creating artificial microbial and algal communities, but technical and evolutionary complexities still pose significant challenges. Traditional methods for studying microbial and algal communities, such as microscopy and pigment analysis, are limited in throughput and resolution. In contrast, advancements in full-spectrum cytometry enabled high-throughput, multidimensional analysis of single cells based on their size, complexity, and spectral fingerprints, offering more precise and comprehensive analysis than conventional flow cytometry. This study demonstrates the use of full-spectrum cytometry for analyzing synthetic algal-microbial communities, facilitating rapid species identification and enumeration. The workflow involves recording individual spectral signatures from monocultures, utilizing autofluorescence to distinguish them from noise, and subsequent creation of a spectral library for further analysis. The obtained library is used then to analyze mixtures of unicellular cyanobacteria and synthetic phytoplankton communities, revealing differences in spectral signatures. The synthetic consortium experiment monitored algal growth, comparing results from different instruments and highlighting the advantages of the spectral virtual filter system for precise population separation and abundance tracking. This approach demonstrated higher flexibility and accuracy in analyzing multi-component algal-microbial assemblages and tracking temporal changes in community composition. By capturing the complete emission spectrum of each cell, this method enhances the understanding of algal-microbial community dynamics and responses to environmental stressors. With development of standardized spectral libraries, our work demonstrates an improved characterization of algal communities, advancing research in synthetic biology and phytoplankton ecology.