Design and Validation of a PLC-Controlled Morbidostat for Investigating Bacterial Drug Resistance

During adaptive laboratory evolution experiments, any unexpected interruption in data monitoring or control could lead to the loss of valuable experimental data and compromise the integrity of the entire experiment. Most homemade mini-bioreactors are built employing microcontrollers such as Arduino....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Bioengineering (Basel) Vol. 11; no. 8; p. 815
Main Authors: Pedreira, Adrián, Vázquez, José A., Romanenko, Andrey, García, Míriam R.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 01.08.2024
MDPI
Subjects:
adaptive laboratory evolution (ALE)
Ammonium compounds
Analysis
Antimicrobial agents
bioreactor
Bioreactors
Closed loop systems
Control algorithms
Controllers
Design
didecyldimethylammonium chloride
Drug development
Drug resistance
Drug resistance in microorganisms
E coli
Escherichia coli
Evolution
Evolution & development
International economic relations
Investigations
Monitoring
morbidostat
Operating systems
Process controls
programmable logic controller (PLC)
Programmable logic controllers
Quaternary ammonium salts
Robust control
Scientific equipment and supplies industry
Software
User interface
United States
Germany
Spain
programmable logic controller (PLC)
didecyldimethylammonium chloride
bioreactor
Escherichia coli
adaptive laboratory evolution (ALE)
morbidostat
ISSN:2306-5354, 2306-5354
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:During adaptive laboratory evolution experiments, any unexpected interruption in data monitoring or control could lead to the loss of valuable experimental data and compromise the integrity of the entire experiment. Most homemade mini-bioreactors are built employing microcontrollers such as Arduino. Although affordable, these platforms lack the robustness of the programmable logic controller (PLC), which enhances the safety and robustness of the control process. Here, we describe the design and validation of a PLC-controlled morbidostat, an innovative automated continuous-culture mini-bioreactor specifically created to study the evolutionary pathways to drug resistance in microorganisms. This morbidostat includes several improvements, both at the hardware and software level, for better online monitoring and a more robust operation. The device was validated employing Escherichia coli, exploring its adaptive evolution in the presence of didecyldimethylammonium chloride (DDAC), a quaternary ammonium compound widely used for its antimicrobial properties. E. coli was subjected to increasing concentrations of DDAC over 3 days. Our results demonstrated a significant increase in DDAC susceptibility, with evolved populations exhibiting substantial changes in their growth after exposure.
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ISSN:2306-5354
2306-5354
DOI:10.3390/bioengineering11080815