Encapsulating Microorganisms inside Electrospun Microfibers as a Living Material Enables Room-Temperature Storage of Microorganisms

Abstract

Room-temperature storage and transportation of microorganisms maximize the power of microorganisms in healthcare, energy, and environment. Recently, paper-based biotechnologies have been developed to enable room-temperature storage of a variety of nonliving biosystems such as diagnostic devices and cell-free systems. Herein, room-temperature storage of living microorganisms is realized by an electrospun nonwoven paper containing convex region, which is composed of coiled microfibers with dense distribution of microorganisms. Microorganisms are encapsulated into the microfibers and remain intact after electrospinning. Poly­(ethylene oxide) is used as polymer matrix, and glycerol and dextran are used as additives. When the contents of glycerol and dextran are optimized as 5 and 0.4%, the room-temperature time is prolonged to 2 days, more than 8 folds as compared with the control group. Upon demand, the microorganisms can be activated by adding water and used for culturing microorganisms directly. Furthermore, mechanisms which account for microbial activity and storage are studied. Our microfiber-based strategy is universal for the room-temperature storage of prokaryotic and eukaryotic microorganisms in the solid formulation. Besides, our microorganism/polymer complex structures represent novel living materials via a bottom-up strategy, which are of great potential for new biomedical applications.

Nanoencapsulation of Saccharomycopsis fibuligera VIT‐MN04 using electrospinning technique for easy gastrointestinal transit

“…lactis Bb12 was microencapsulated with inulin which showed better protection at 4°C compared to 25°C [34]. The Saccharomyces cerevisiae encapsulated in microfibres with polyethylene glycol showed stable viability up to 7 days at room temperature [35]. The probiotic bacteria Lactobacillus plantarum encapsulated with pectin and rice bran was reported to retain improved viability after freeze drying [36].…”

Engineered Living Materials For Sustainability

“…The resulting semipermeable microfibers, which maintained the integrity and viability of the encapsulated microorganisms, are promising candidates for more mainstream applications such as synthetic biofilm reactors, therapeutic scaffolds, and portable living sensing materials . Moreover, the polymer matrix in the electrospun fibers can act as a protective shell that assists the living systems in resisting environmental stress and cell dehydration, thus enabling the long-term storage of living organisms . For example, Mukiri et al encapsulated the beneficial bacteria Methylobacterium aminovorans in electrospun PVA nanofibers for seed coating and demonstrated their efficiency in improving plant germination and growth .…”

“…319 Moreover, the polymer matrix in the electrospun fibers can act as a protective shell that assists the living systems in resisting environmental stress and cell dehydration, thus enabling the long-term storage of living organisms. 320 For example, Mukiri et al encapsulated the beneficial bacteria Methylobacterium aminovorans in electrospun PVA nanofibers for seed coating and demonstrated their efficiency in improving plant germination and growth. 321 The microorganisms inside the fibers remained viable even after 30 days under ambient conditions, indicating their long-lasting usefulness in improving seed quality.…”

Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine: Achievements, Future, and Sustainability in Asia

“…Cells were also introduced into developing tissue-engineered corneal stroma. A cell-laden and orthogonalmultilayer tissue-engineered corneal stroma facilitated the construction of physiological feature tissue-engineered corneal stroma and helped to reverse fibrosis pathologies in general (Cui et al, 2018).…”