Genome shuffling is an effective novel approach to improve microbial phenotype, with the advantages of rapid, effective, easy to operated and powerful practicality. It has been widely used in the improvement of industrial microbial strains in recent years. This article focuses on introducing the procedure, advantages and applications of this technology, then summarizes some open questions that reside in the applications of this approach for phenotype improvement and give perspective on the development of this method in the future.

genome shuffling; recursive protoplast fusion; breeding