{"id":3037,"date":"2017-06-26T16:57:47","date_gmt":"2017-06-26T14:57:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.toulouse-white-biotechnology.com\/insights\/actualites\/actualite\/heurisko-culture-automaton\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T13:49:31","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T12:49:31","slug":"heurisko-culture-automaton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.toulouse-white-biotechnology.com\/en\/insights\/blog\/news\/heurisko-culture-automaton\/","title":{"rendered":"Heurisko culture automaton"},"content":{"rendered":"Heurisko automated systems, allowing in vivo evolution of microbial populations, have been recently installed on the Biotransformation and Culture platform of TWB. <\/strong>\n\n

Within the framework of a collaboration with Heurisko, a partner of the TWB consortium, two automated microbial culture systems – proprietary to the company – are installed on TWB\u2019s Biotransformation and culture platform.<\/p>\n\nThese innovative systems allow the in vivo evolution of microbial populations<\/strong>\n\n

. The configuration of the reactors and surrounding fluidics permits evolutions of several months with a minimum risk of contamination. This evolution platform can be applied to the development of non-GMO strains or to the development of metabolically or genetically engineered strains.\r\n\r\nThe tool is compatible with<\/p>\n\nyeasts<\/strong>\n\n

,<\/p>\n\nbacteria<\/strong>\n\n

and<\/p>\n\nmicroalgae<\/strong>\n\n

in<\/p>\n\naerobic<\/strong>\n\n

or<\/p>\n\nanaerobic<\/strong>\n\n

conditions. It makes it possible to grow continuous evolution cultures with an automation of operations that are conventionally performed by an operator. The system, designed so as to limit to a minimum any wearing part, allows for a very long culture duration (>6 months) without any risk of contamination or hardware failure. The low volume of culture (<10 mL) decreases the amounts of medium to be prepared and makes possible the use of expensive constituents.\r\n\r\nOne advantage among many others is the<\/p>\n\n elimination of biofilm forms<\/strong>\n\n

during evolution. This pitfall systematically encountered in conventional evolution chemostats is avoided by various innovations of the system.\r\n\r\nDilution is at the heart of the mode of controlling the selection of the various sub-populations in the continuous culture. The type and level of selection pressure are automatically controlled by the dilution speed and the composition of the culture medium or media.\r\n\r\nDifferent culture protocols are available:<\/p>\n\nchemostat<\/strong>\n\n

,<\/p>\n\nturbidostat<\/strong>\n\n

and<\/p>\n\nmedium-swap<\/strong>\n\n

, to optimise exploitation of the substrate, productivity, and resistance to stress of an element of the medium (substrate, product, co-product), respectively.\r\n\r\nThe objective of the evolution strategy can also be the in vivo introduction of new biological functions or new metabolic pathways.\r\n\r\nThe aims can also be purely scientific such as understanding metabolic pathways, regulation loops, etc.\r\n\r\nMany barriers have been overcome in real cases by the Heurisko\u00a0technology:<\/p>\n\n