High-Throughput Time-Lapse Fluorescence Microscopy Screening for Heterogeneously Expressed Genes in Bacillus subtilis

Abstract

Differential gene expression among isogenic siblings often leads to phenotypic heterogeneity and the emergence of complex social behavior and functional capacities within clonal bacterial populations. Despite the importance of such features for both the fundamental understanding and synthetic engineering of bacterial behavior, approaches to systematically map such population heterogeneity are scarce.