A responsive living material prepared by diffusion reveals extracellular enzyme activity of cyanobacteria

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Tang, Lisa; Soulier, Nathan T.; Wheeler, Rebecca; Pokorski, Jonathan K.; Golden, James W.; Golden, Susan S.; Bae, Jinhye
• 署名单位: University of California System; University of California San Diego; University of California System; University of California San Diego; Chung Ang University
• 刊物名称: PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0027-15030
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2424405122
• 发表日期: 2025-05-06
• 关键词: functional-analysis; stress; light

摘要

Stimuli-responsive engineered living materials (ELMs) can respond to environmental or biochemical cues and have broad utility in biological sensors and machines, but have traditionally been limited to biocompatible scaffolds. This is because they are typically made by mixing cells into a precursor solution before crosslinking. Here, we demonstrate a diffusion mechanism for incorporating cells of the cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus sp. PCC 7942 (S. elongatus) into nanoclay-poly-N-isopropylacrylamide (NC-PNIPAm), a hydrogel with a cytotoxic precursor, by exploiting its temperature-dependent shape-morphing behavior. Subsequent growth of S. elongatus caused a decrease in the bending curvature and stiffness (local Young's modulus) of NC-PNIPAm due to partial degradation by an unannotated enzyme. Creation and observation of this cyanobacteria-hydrogel ELM showcases a method for diffusing cells into a hydrogel as well as characterizing an extracellular enzyme.