bitBiome has been granted a patent for a unique single-cell sequencing platform.

Tokyo, Japan – May 20th 2025 – bitBiome, a pioneering force in the field of microbial single cell sequencing and discovery, design, and engineering of novel enzymes, proteins, and ingredients, using its proprietary microbial genome database, has secured a bioinformatics technology patent pertaining to a novel processing method for integrating single-cell genome sequences and metagenomic sequences to construct microbial genome sequences. This patent facilitates the acquisition of comprehensive genome sequences of microorganisms that are challenging to culture, with enhanced quality compared to conventional metagenomic analysis or single-cell genome analysis independently. bitBiome is developing a bioinformatics analysis service, designated as “SAG-MAG analysis,” predicated upon this patent.

This patented method enables the high-fidelity determination of a single microorganism’s genome sequence within diverse microbial populations traditionally found in the gut microbiome and particularly in environmental samples such as soil microbial communities.

While metagenomic analysis allows for the simultaneous determination of a microbiome’s DNA sequence via comprehensive extraction and analysis, challenges arise in reconstructing individual microorganism genome sequences from the mixed DNA sequences. Conversely, single-cell genome analysis isolates single microorganisms in gel capsules prior to DNA sequencing, thereby obviating the need for genome sequence reconstruction from mixed DNA pools. However, this method necessitates amplifying a minute quantity of DNA from a single cell, which introduces potential complications such as chimeric sequences and amplification bias.

The patented technology integrates both single-cell genome analysis and metagenomic analysis on samples derived from the same microbiome, with resultant data being mutually leveraged to mitigate individual method limitations and improve genome sequence quality. This technology enables the provision of superior quality genome sequences compared to either method in isolation. The high-quality genome constructed under this patent encompasses the entirety of the microbial genome, exhibits minimal genome sequence fragmentation, and demonstrates reduced contamination from other microbial genomes. This will be advantageous in constructing reference genomes, analyzing biosynthetic gene clusters, and developing full-length gene databases for enzyme discovery.

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