Recent advances in single bacterium metabolic analysis techniques

Heterogeneity is a common phenomenon in individual bacterium of bacterial populations even with the same gene and environment. Metabolites, as the basis for maintaining biological activities, provide a more direct and dynamic picture of cell function. In particular, cell-to-cell heterogeneity of bacterial metabolism could still be found even under a well-controlled environment, which urgently requires single bacterium analysis to reveal the heterogeneity of individual bacterium. However, due to the tiny volume and metabolite contents of a single bacterium, single bacterium metabolic analysis is extremely challenging. In this review, we summarized single bacterium metabolic analysis techniques, including RNA sequencing, fluorescent probes, Raman spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. The limitations of current techniques were also discussed as well as the possibilities of development direction.(c) 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

Heterogeneity is a common phenomenon in individual bacterium of bacterial populations even with the same gene and environment. Metabolites, as the basis for maintaining biological activities, provide a more direct and dynamic picture of cell function. Single bacterium metabolic analysis techniques, including RNA sequencing, fluorescent probes, Raman spectroscopy, and mass spectrometry, have been summarized in this review.