Abstract: To evaluate the feasibility of microdroplet technology for the isolation and cultivation of polar microorganisms, and to explore its potential for enhancing microbial cultivation efficiency, this study utilized high-throughput microdroplet encapsulation technology to conduct research on the isolation and cultivation of microorganisms from sediment samples collected in the Southern Ocean. The results show that: (1) Compared with the traditional spread plate method, differences were observed in the bacterial groups isolated and cultivated using the high-throughput microdroplet method. Although both methods primarily isolated Halomonas, the resultant proportions differed. (2) Both methods successfully isolated other strain groups that the other method failed to cultivate. This indicates that the combined use of these two techniques can effectively increase microbial species diversity. (3) Under the conditions of this study, the total number of strains isolated and cultured by the high-throughput microdroplet method was less than that isolated by the traditional spread plate method, but more non-redundant amplicon sequence variants were detected with the high-throughput method than with the traditional spread plate method per unit time, which reflects the potential of the high-throughput method for improving the efficiency of microbial separation. This study provides a scientific basis for exploring the application of high-throughput microdroplet encapsulation technology in the isolation and cultivation of polar microorganisms and offers insight and a reference for further optimization of such methods in the isolation and cultivation of polar microorganisms in future studies.

Key words: high-throughput microdroplet technique,  strain isolation and cultivation,  community structure,  sediment microorganisms,  Southern Ocean