Abstract
Electroporation is already an established technique in several areas of medicine, but many of its biotechnological applications have only started to emerge; this chapter reviews some of the most promising ones. The introductory section provides an overview, and subsequent sections explore four types of such applications in more detail. The first application described is the most established one – the use of reversible electroporation for heritable genetic modification of microorganisms (electrotransformation); it is described how electrotransformation is used for production of biomolecules, adaptation of microorganisms to diverse conditions, and for basic research, followed by an overview of the parameters affecting the efficiency of electrotransformation. Then, the chapter reviews three classes of applications that generally aim to upscale to the industrial and/or clinical level, which have only recently started to advance to this stage. Electroporation-based inactivation of microorganisms is first described for wastewater treatment and then for nonthermal pasteurization of foods and beverages. Extraction of biomolecules by means of electroporation (electroextraction) is efficient both in unicellular and multicellular organisms, with the latter class of applications illustrated on the examples of grapes and sugar beet. Electroporation used for fast biomass drying is an emerging technology with several distinctive advantages over the standard techniques, including a much higher energy efficiency. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the main challenges, also from the hardware perspective, and of the future perspectives.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Brim H, Venkateswaran A, Kostandarithes HM et al (2003) Engineering Deinococcus geothermalis for bioremediation of high-temperature radioactive waste environments. Appl Environ Microbiol 69:4575–4582. doi:10.1128/AEM.69.8.4575-4582.2003
de Boer K, Moheimani NR, Borowitzka MA, Bahri PA (2012) Extraction and conversion pathways for microalgae to biodiesel: a review focused on energy consumption. J Appl Phycol 24:1681–1698. doi:10.1007/s10811-012-9835-z
Evrendilek G (2016) Pulsed electric field treatment for beverage production and preservation. In: Handbook on electroporation. Springer International Publishing Switzerland
Faber K, Harder W, Ab G, Veenhuis M (1995) Review – methylotrophic yeasts as factories for the production of foreign proteins. Yeast 11:1331–1344. doi:10.1002/yea.320111402
Flisar K, Haberl Meglic S, Morelj J et al (2014) Testing a prototype pulse generator for a continuous flow system and its use for E. coli inactivation and microalgae lipid extraction. Bioelectrochemistry 100:44–51
Ganeva V, Galutzov B, Teissie J (2013) Evidence that pulsed electric field treatment enhances the cell wall porosity of yeast cells. Appl Biochem Biotechnol 172:1540–1552. doi:10.1007/s12010-013-0628-x
Gusbeth C, Frey W, Schwartz T, Rieder A (2009a) Critical comparison between the pulsed electric field and thermal decontamination methods of hospital wastewater. Acta Phys Pol A 115:1092–1094
Gusbeth C, Frey W, Volkmann H et al (2009b) Pulsed electric field treatment for bacteria reduction and its impact on hospital wastewater. Chemosphere 75:228–233. doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2008.11.066
Haberl S, Jarc M, Strancar A et al (2013a) Comparison of alkaline lysis with electroextraction and optimization of electric pulses to extract plasmid DNA from Escherichia coli. J Membr Biol 246:861–867. doi:10.1007/s00232-013-9580-5
Haberl S, Miklavcic D, Sersa G et al (2013b) Cell membrane electroporation-Part 2: the applications. IEEE Electr Insul Mag 29:29–37
Kilian O, Benemann CSE, Niyogi KK, Vick B (2011) High-efficiency homologous recombination in the oil-producing alga Nannochloropsis sp. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 108:21265–21269. doi:10.1073/pnas.1105861108
Kotnik T (2016) Transmembrane voltage induced by applied electric fields. In: Handbook on electroporation. Springer International Publishing Switzerland
Kotnik T, Frey W, Sack M et al (2015) Electroporation-based applications in biotechnology. Trends Biotechnol 33:480–488. doi:10.1016/j.tibtech.2015.06.002
Li CH, Corum L, Morgan D et al (2000) The spirochete FlaA periplasmic flagellar sheath protein impacts flagellar helicity. J Bacteriol 182:6698–6706. doi:10.1128/JB.182.23.6698-6706.2000
Mahnic-Kalamiza S, Vorobiev E, Miklavcic D (2014) Electroporation in food processing and biorefinery. J Membr Biol 247:1279–1304. doi:10.1007/s00232-014-9737-x
Meddeb-Mouelhi F, Dulcey C, Beauregard M (2012) High transformation efficiency of Bacillus subtilis with integrative DNA using glycine betaine as osmoprotectant. Anal Biochem 424:127–129. doi:10.1016/j.ab.2012.01.032
Ohshima T, Sato M (2004) Bacterial sterilization and intracellular protein release by a pulsed electric field. Recent Prog Biochem Biomed Eng Jpn I 760–760
Ohshima T, Hama Y, Sato M (2000) Releasing profiles of gene products from recombinant Escherichia coli in a high-voltage pulsed electric field. Biochem Eng J 5:149–155. doi:10.1016/S1369-703X(00)00055-3
Sack M, Eing C, Berghoefer T et al (2008) Electroporation-assisted dewatering as an alternative method for drying plants. IEEE Trans Plasma Sci 36:2577–2585. doi:10.1109/TPS.2008.2002440
Sack M, Attmann F, Staengle R et al (2009) Upgrade of the electroporation device KEA-MOBIL. Acta Phys Pol A 115:1081–1083
Saulis G (2010) Electroporation of cell membranes: the fundamental effects of pulsed electric fields in food processing. Food Eng Rev 2:52–73. doi:10.1007/s12393-010-9023-3
Suga M, Hatakeyama T (2001) High efficiency transformation of Schizosaccharomyces pombe pretreated with thiol compounds by electroporation. Yeast 18:1015–1021. doi:10.1002/yea.753.abs
Turk M (2016) Pulsed electric fields assisted extraction of valuable compounds from grape pomace. In: Handbook on electroporation. Springer International Publishing Switzerland
Vorobiev E, Lebovka N (2016) Pulsed electric fields processing for sugarbeet and whole crops biorefinery. In: Handbook on electroporation. Springer International Publishing Switzerland
Acknowledgment
This work was supported by the Slovenian Research Agency (Grant P2-0249) and conducted in the scope of the European Laboratory of Pulsed Electric Fields Applications (LEA EBAM) and within networking efforts of the COST Action TD1104 – European Network for Development of Electroporation-Based Technologies and Treatments (EP4Bio2Med).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing AG
About this entry
Cite this entry
Meglič, S.H., Kotnik, T. (2016). Electroporation-Based Applications in Biotechnology. In: Miklavcic, D. (eds) Handbook of Electroporation. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26779-1_33-2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26779-1_33-2
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-26779-1
eBook Packages: Springer Reference Biomedicine and Life SciencesReference Module Biomedical and Life Sciences
Publish with us
Chapter history
-
Latest
Electroporation-Based Applications in Biotechnology- Published:
- 19 October 2016
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26779-1_33-2
-
Original
Electroporation-Based Applications in Biotechnology- Published:
- 17 August 2016
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26779-1_33-1