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    Living materials fabricated via gradient mineralization of light-inducible biofilms

    Year: 2021

    Journal: Nat. Chem. Biol., Volume 17, MAR, page 351

    Authors: Wang, Yanyi; An, Bolin; Xue, Bin; Pu, Jiahua; Zhang, Xiuli; Huang, Yuanyuan; Yu, Yi; Cao, Yi; Zhong, Chao

    Organizations: National Science and Technology Major Project of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China [2020YFA0908100, 2018YFA0902804]; National Natural Science Foundation of China [U1932204]; Commission for Science and Technology of Shanghai Municipality [17JC1403900]; China Postdoctoral Science Foundation [2019M661676]; 1000 Youth Talents Program - Chinese Central Government

    Living organisms have evolved sophisticated cell-mediated biomineralization mechanisms to build structurally ordered, environmentally adaptive composite materials. Despite advances in biomimetic mineralization research, it remains difficult to produce mineralized composites that integrate the structural features and 'living' attributes of their natural counterparts. Here, inspired by natural graded materials, we developed living patterned and gradient composites by coupling light-inducible bacterial biofilm formation with biomimetic hydroxyapatite (HA) mineralization. We showed that both the location and the degree of mineralization could be regulated by tailoring functional biofilm growth with spatial and biomass density control. The cells in the composites remained viable and could sense and respond to environmental signals. Additionally, the composites exhibited a maximum 15-fold increase in Young's modulus after mineralization and could be applied to repair damage in a spatially controlled manner. Beyond insights into the mechanism of formation of natural graded composites, our study provides a viable means of fabricating living composites with dynamic responsiveness and environmental adaptability.
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