Protection of Anaerobic Microbes from Processing Stressors Using Metal–Phenolic Networks

Abstract

The gut microbiome is essential to maintain overall health and prevent disease, which can occur when these microbes are not in homeostasis. Microbial biotherapeutics are important to combat these issues, but they must be alive at the time of delivery for efficacy. Many potentially therapeutic species are anaerobes and thus are difficult to manufacture because of the limited efficacy of existing protective methods, making their production nearly impossible. We have developed a self-assembling cellular coating to improve the viability and stability of the next-generation biotherapeutic Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron. We show protection from both harsh processing conditions and oxygen exposure, even in the absence of canonical cryoprotectants. This advance will increase the range of microbes that can be stably manufactured and facilitate the development of emerging strains of interest by ensuring their postproduction viability.

A single-cell nanocoating of probiotics for enhanced amelioration of antibiotic-associated diarrhea

“…1 ) 43 – 47 . The commonly used components for this nanoarmor are mainly abundant plant extracts and already have been used as a food additive and functional materials in cell engineering 44 , 45 , 48 , 49 , making the nanoarmor ideal for the use of probiotic engineering. Mechanistic studies revealed that molecular interaction-mediated inactivation of antibiotic molecules by the nanoarmor prevents cellular uptake and imprecise killing action.…”

Metal-phenolic networks as tuneable spore coat mimetics

“…10,11 We recently reported the protection of Bacterioides thetaiotaomicron, an important potential living biotherapeutic, from lyophilization and subsequent aerobic exposure using iron-containing MPNs. 12 Others have reported the protection of live Escherichia coli from UV exposure following MPN coating. 13 These results are encouraging for MPN suitability as a general protective coating for microbes.…”

Hydrogen Bonding‐Based Layer‐by‐Layer Assembly of Nature‐Derived Eggshell Membrane Hydrolysates and Coffee Melanoidins in Single‐Cell Nanoencapsulation

“…We also investigated protectability against pH because it has many practical applications, including encapsulation of live probiotics and protection in the gut [11,26,57,58] . In addition, pH‐responsive, HB‐based LbL films and capsules have been suggested to open the door to new applications in the biomaterial field [59] .…”

“…We also investigated protectability against pH because it has many practical applications, including encapsulation of live probiotics and protection in the gut. [11,26,57,58] In addition, pHresponsive, HB-based LbL films and capsules have been suggested to open the door to new applications in the biomaterial field. [59] In the current study, we additionally examined the shell-degradation characteristics because stimuliresponsive shell degradation was one of the key shell properties for artificial spores in SCNE.…”