Digital PCR as an Emerging Tool for Monitoring of Microbial Biodegradation
Yiqi Cao,
Miao Yu,
Guihua Dong,
Bing Chen,
Baiyu Zhang
Affiliations
Yiqi Cao
The Northern Region Persistent Organic Pollution (NRPOP) Control Laboratory, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL A1B 3X5, Canada
Miao Yu
The Northern Region Persistent Organic Pollution (NRPOP) Control Laboratory, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL A1B 3X5, Canada
Guihua Dong
The Northern Region Persistent Organic Pollution (NRPOP) Control Laboratory, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL A1B 3X5, Canada
Bing Chen
The Northern Region Persistent Organic Pollution (NRPOP) Control Laboratory, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL A1B 3X5, Canada
Baiyu Zhang
The Northern Region Persistent Organic Pollution (NRPOP) Control Laboratory, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL A1B 3X5, Canada
Biodegradation of contaminants is extremely complicated due to unpredictable microbial behaviors. Monitoring of microbial biodegradation drives us to determine (1) the amounts of specific degrading microbes, (2) the abundance, and (3) expression level of relevant functional genes. To this endeavor, the cultivation independent polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based monitoring technique develops from endpoint PCR, real-time quantitative PCR, and then into novel digital PCR. In this review, we introduce these three categories of PCR techniques and summarize the timely applications of digital PCR and its superiorities than qPCR for biodegradation monitoring. Digital PCR technique, emerging as the most accurately absolute quantification method, can serve as the most promising and robust tool for monitoring of microbial biodegradation.
