Studies on the Physical Characteristics of the Radio-Frequency Atmospheric-Pressure Glow Discharge Plasmas for the Genome Mutation of Methylosinus trichosporium

In this paper, both simulations and experiments are conducted to investigate the physical characteristics of the radio-frequency atmospheric-pressure glow discharges (RF APGDs) first. The experimental and modeling results show that there are abundant chemically reactive species, e.g., electrons, helium metastables and ions, with high number densities in the discharge region. The corresponding plasma jet temperatures are in the range of 27°C - 39°C with the power input lower than 120 W, which is suitable for the treatment of the biomolecules or cells. Then, a prototype, which is the so-called atmospheric and room-temperature plasma mutation system, is designed with the RF APGD plasma generator as the core component. As an example, it is used for the mutation breeding of Methylosinus trichosporium OB3b. The experimental results show that the RF APGD plasma source is an environmentally friendly and efficient tool for the genome mutation of microorganisms to construct mutant library with large diversity.