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    Programmable and printable Bacillus subtilis biofilms as engineered living materials

    Year: 2019

    Journal: Nat. Chem. Biol., Volume 15, JAN, page 34

    Authors: Huang, Jiaofang; Liu, Suying; Zhang, Chen; Wang, Xinyu; Pu, Jiahua; Ba, Fang; Xue, Shuai; Ye, Haifeng; Zhao, Tianxin; Li, Ke; Wang, Yanyi; Zhang, Jicong; Wang, Lihua; Fan, Chunhai; Lu, Timothy K.; Zhong, Chao

    Organizations: Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai MunicipalityScience & Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (STCSM) [17JC1403900]; National Natural Science Foundation of ChinaNational Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) [31570972, 31872728]; 2016 Open Financial Fund of Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology [QNLM2016ORP0403]; ShanghaiTech University; 1000 Youth Talents Program - Chinese Central Government; National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC)National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) [31522017, 31470834, 31670869]

    Bacterial biofilms can be programmed to produce living materials with self-healing and evolvable functionalities. However, the wider use of artificial biofilms has been hindered by limitations on processability and functional protein secretion capacity. We describe a highly flexible and tunable living functional materials platform based on the TasA amyloid machinery of the bacterium Bacillus subtilis. We demonstrate that genetically programmable TasA fusion proteins harboring diverse functional proteins or domains can be secreted and can assemble into diverse extracellular nano-architectures with tunable physicochemical properties. Our engineered biofilms have the viscoelastic behaviors of hydrogels and can be precisely fabricated into microstructures having a diversity of three-dimensional (3D) shapes using 3D printing and microencapsulation techniques. Notably, these long-lasting and environmentally responsive fabricated living materials remain alive, self-regenerative, and functional. This new tunable platform offers previously unattainable properties for a variety of living functional materials having potential applications in biomaterials, biotechnology, and biomedicine.
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