Influence of global gene regulatory networks on single cell heterogeneity of green fluorescent protein production in Bacillus subtilis

Abstract

Expression of GFP is prominently heterogeneous in the WT B. subtilis cells, and this phenotypic heterogeneity can be significantly reduced by CodY^R214C mutation. The rates of production heterogeneity show a high correlation to the overall GFP yields. Moreover, the toolkit of flow cytometry and fluorescence microscopy that can achieve real-time profiles of GFP production performance in various strains may facilitate the further use of B. subtilis as a cell factory.