In order to confirm that sorted cells were uniquely deposited in separate incubation wells, the sorted cells were subjected to the control procedure. The success rate of one-cell-per-well sorting was high, ranging from 82% to 100%. Moreover, 50e75% of the sorted cells remained viable. This ratio is higher than that previously reported by Sensen et al. [7], where only 20e30% of sorted cells grew successfully. 250 mL scaled-up cultures of the sorted cells were further analyzed using an
Epics Altra flow cytometer to verify that isolates were in pure culture. The cytometric dot plots confirmed that the sorted cultures were derived from a single isolate.