title: A Review of Gene Knockout Strategies for Microbial Cells.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Predicting the effects of genetic modification is difficult due to the complexity of metabolic net- works. Various gene knockout strategies have been utilised to deactivate specific genes in order to determine the effects of these genes on the function of microbes. Deactivation of genes can lead to deletion of certain proteins and functions. Through these strategies, the associated function of a deleted gene can be identified from the metabolic networks.
  
  
  METHODS
  The main aim of this paper is to review the available techniques in gene knockout strategies for microbial cells. The review is done in terms of their methodology, recent applications in microbial cells. In addition, the advantages and disadvantages of the techniques are compared and discuss and the related patents are also listed as well.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Traditionally, gene knockout is done through wet lab (in vivo) techniques, which were conducted through laboratory experiments. However, these techniques are costly and time consuming. Hence, various dry lab (in silico) techniques, where are conducted using computational approaches, have been developed to surmount these problem.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The development of numerous techniques for gene knockout in microbial cells has brought many advancements in the study of gene functions. Based on the literatures, we found that the gene knockout strategies currently used are sensibly implemented with regard to their benefits.
authors.forename: Phooi Wah
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Pooi San
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Chua
authors.forename: Shiue Kee
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Chong
authors.affiliation: Artificial Intelligence & Bioinformatics Research Group, Faculty of Computing, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Skudai, Johor, Malaysia. saberi@utm.my.
authors.forename: Mohd Saberi
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Mohamad
authors.forename: Yee Wen
authors.initials: YW
authors.lastname: Choon
authors.forename: Safaai
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Deris
authors.forename: Sigeru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Omatu
authors.forename: Juan Manuel
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Corchado
authors.forename: Weng Howe
authors.initials: WH
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: Raha Abdul
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Rahim
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000235:genetics*; D019295:Computational Biology / Q000379:methods; D003198:Computer Simulation; D055786:Gene Knockout Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D066298:In Vitro Techniques / Q000379:methods; D010330:Patents as Topic